Crash - No. 19 (1985-08)(Newsfield)(GB)

ZX SPECTRUM

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Hay THE GAME everyone's talking about:

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manual accompan|

; (1 „, ,m addition tup
^ons.itincludesW

inadocuments info*
"Ifand other addition

matio 11 -

; iuts on the evening of May 16&, 1943. A flight of specially
prepared Lancaster bombers is leaving EA1 Scamptcn for-Germany
After months of planning Ho, 617 Squadron are at last&mbarking sn an operation destined So change the course of World War II,

Your objective is to destroy the Holme, Mer and Sorpe dams, tiius crippling Germany's industrial heartlani

: detailed and authentic simulation allows you So play the part of PILOT, NAVI&AT0R t FRONT GUNNER, HIM GujxjuR,
BOMB AIMER ana FLIGHT ENGINEER,

f.y at low altitude over Europe, on the lookout for deadly ME11Q nigh', fighters, dodging barrage Moons, seuctalights and :
the ■ arget you'll need all your nerve and skill to control the aircraft and release your 'deadly payload whDol mder enemy attack.

Game features Include: SUPERB GRAPHICS & SOUND • REALISTIC JOYSTICK CONTROL ■ PILOTS SCREEN 6- INDICATORS •
MULTIPLE SCREEN NAVIGATOR'S MAPS • FRONT & REAR GUNNER'S SCREEN BOMB SIGHT SCREEN ■ ENGINEER'S
INDICATORS.

Game Paekage includes: Comprehensive flight instructions, maps and confidential documents including authentic material by Barnes
Willis and Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
D«signad and fereloped ty Sytoejr Development Corporation, Lwensed in wnjunctioa iritii International Com puier Group. ManufafiSured in tti«

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Become a master of this mysterious ancient art: progress from
novice to Tenth Dan and test your strength and discipline. You can
control your character with either joystick or keyboard - 18
different manoeuvres including blocks, flying kicks, leg sweeps,
roundhouse and even somersaults!

Challenge the computer, facing opponents of progressively
greater skill, or compete with a friend. THE WAY OF THE EXPLODING
FIST has it all - addictive competitive action, dazzling graphic
animation and sound. The wait is over - you are about to face the
challenge of a lifetime! "Spectacular, startlingly original epic,
most televisual game I have encountered,"- Daily Mail.
"Quite simply the best program •" - Popular Computing Weekly

MELBOURNE HOUSE

3t

Now available for Commodore

64 at/9.95. Available soon for

the AmstradZ'9 95 and SDectruml8 }

IffiLI

Available from selected branches of

GREENS. CatMET LASKVS Rumbelo ws
WOOLWOftTH WHSMI'I H .(.^i'^BMSBQ

Publishing

Executive

Roger Kegn
Editor

Graeme Kidd
Technical Editor
franci
Art Editor
Oliver Frey
Production Designer
David Western
Software Editor
Jeremy Spencer
Adventure Editor
Derek Brewster
Strategy Reviewer
Angus Hyall
Staff Writer

Mangram
Contributing Writers
Matthew Uffinclell, C I
Passey, Robin Candy,

n Minson,
Mark. Han .•

Client Liaison

John ;

Production Manager

Sally Newman

Subscription Manager

Denise Roberts

MaiiOrder

Carol Kinsey

% m&Newsfield Limited
CRASH Magazine is pu b
monthly by NewsfieW Ltd, 1 <2
»psh«B

ft Sub 0594 5620

0564 5851

S Advertising 05845851

Colour o'rigJi

Wallace Haad, London
.
Web Offset \ Member of the BPCC
Newtown! a
s, Cumbria.
Distf ibution by COMAG,

...k Road, West Drayton,
Middlesex UB7 7QE

Subscriptions: 12 issues £14.50

.: eluded (Uk \
Europe, 12 issues f21.BG post

: ed. Outside I

jementinwri

No material may be reproducad in
wha'f

cannot undertake to rn

to CRASH Maga

unlessacccTiuj

. ivBtopO; Unsc-I-

Mltanorp'tMMoi

may be used .r El

rrem rates, "i
views o( co ressjjondt i
and ate r.
those of the puWishera.

MICRONET:

You can talk to CRASH via

Micronet. Our IVIBX is

105845851

Cover by Oliver Frey

30COMPUTER RENTALS LIMITED

Roger Kean zooms off to get the inside story of CRL, the
people behind ROCKY HORROR SHOW, the game,
amongst other things. . . .

66 PULL OUT POSTER

With ail these fighting games on the Spectrum, Oliver
Frey decided it was time to give you all a treat.

74 THE STUFF OF LEGEND

John Peel agrees to give Jeremy Spencer thB Scoop on
KOMPLEX CITY — but he ha* to work for rt«

80 THE SINCLAIR STORY

Part Rve looks at the C5, and includes a mini-review.

T 13 BEHIND THE MIRROR

John Minson peeks Into Mirrorsoft, part of Robert
Maxwell's empire — now not the only bit which involves
the Spectrum I

123 A BIT OF FUN

See for yourself ....

128 ON THE COVER

This month's featured artist Is RICH SHEN FIELD, who was
with Quicksilva in the early days.

28 MONTY GOES RUNNING

So could you, in a designer track suit in this Gremlin
Graphics competition.

76 LEISURE GENIUS OFFER
MONOPOLY AND CLUEDO

A chance to win two of the better boardga mes to play on
and with you rubber-keyed chum

100 WA V OF THE EXPLODING FIST

Sang! Your chance to pick up one of a hundred copies of
this fighting extravaganza from Melbourne House

110 CRASH QUIZ

Something a little different this month. . . ■

116ARNHEM

We spare you the ignominy of winning Angus Ryail, and
have persuaded CCS to offer 50 copies of their Wargame
ARNHEM instead

7 EDITORIAL

plus indexes to advertisers and games reviewed

18 NEWS INPUT

A quick look at what's happening

48 CRASH FORUM

In which Lloyd looks at your literary works . . .
58 PLAYING TIPS

Robin Candy shows you how, and announces the results
for the mega-brill Pokes Competition, Also a map of
SHADOWFIRE m Glorious Oficolour, end DYNAMITE DAN
cartography.

70 CRASH HOTLINE AND
ADVENTURE CHART

72 LLOYD MANGRAMS HALL OF
SLIME

More mutilated mug-shots, gore and high scores

78 ADVENTURE OFJETMAN

Spaceship trouble for our hero in his quest for the Eye of
Oktup

82 TECH NICHE

Our Swiss Technical Editor takes a look at the T1MEX
2068, from Portugal, while we provide an overview of
BASIC Compiler programs from England

9 1 ADVENTURE TRAIL

Derek gets involved in the world'of espionage, and one or
two other strange worlds to boot . . .

96 SIGNPOST

Help and tips on adventures, together with your letters
and in invitation to become a SUPERHERO!

1 02CRASH COURSE

Once more into the blackboard jungle with our intrepid
Educational Software Reviewer

111 RESULTS

In which your "umble Competition Minion sorts his mail.

The next issue of CRASH will be on sale
from 29 AUGUST, Make sure you get a
copy, and we won't sulk. Deal?

CRASH August 1985 5

LIVE OUT YOUR DREAMS

Journey back to the 1930s and Che glorious days of
steam aboard the footplate of the powerful King
Arthur Class 4-6-0.

You can almost feel the heat from the firebox and smell
the billowing smoke when you thunder along the
famous London to Brighton run.
Using the footplate controls and gauges you will tow
the Pullman carriages from Victoria to Brighton in 60
minutes. Any delays will ruin your timetable, so keep
an eye on your stocks of water and coal - you can
check the efficiency of your coal bum by the density of
the smoke. Your present speed, time and the position
of the next signal for guidance are also displayed.
Wipe the soot from your eyes and peer out of the ca-b
to pick out the 24 stations as they rush by. Look out for
other well known landmarks such as Battersea Power

Station and the Clayton Tunnel.

Take the option as the driver with your 5pectrum

guiding you along the right track, or try harder lev/els

where you 3te the driver anc/the fireman, perhaps

facing adverse conditions that could make you

disastrously late I

Realistic controls such as the regulator controlling the

flow of steam to the cylinders, the damper controlling

air flow to the fire, vacuum brakes and the fire doors,

plus authentic moving graphics and sound, make

Southern Belle second only to the real experience.

You have steam up, there's a strict timetable, the

Southern Belle is all yours.

Now that was the age of the train I

For all 48K ZX Spectrums. Price £7.95

TochnttfM T<M
Avalon Arcade Adventure

Grapr«Adv*raureMovte For afi4flK Spectrums «,*S

For all 48K Spectrums ».» andAmHrwfCPC^Mfj.W

HEvoon conuiLCAno

56tj Milton Trading Estate, MBton, Abingdon, Oxon, CXI 4 4RX.

For mai! order send cheque/postal order made payable to

Hewson Consultants. For credit card sales state your Access/

Bardaycard number and enclose 3 specimen signature.

Don't forget to include your own name and address.

Oragontorc HMttif ow mtcmattanal

tivng Adventure Movie Simulation

FOr an 48K Spectrums ***** Rjf » t&n Spectrums £?.*S

and Amstrad CPC *m «-•* and Amsvafl etc tc* tlM

As pan of our continuing development of innovative software we are ahways happy to evaluate software icm to us with a view to publication.

A NEW EDITOR

After exactly one and a half
years of publishing CRASH, it
seems an opportune moment
for a change of editorship, I am
moving over to become the
editor of our sister magazine,
ZZAP1 64 because its editor,
Chris Anderson, has now left
Newsfield, The responsibility for
CRASH falls into the
experienced hands of Graeme
K i dd , who has been the a ssistant
editor since Christmas. The
change around hardly
represents a big move, since
both our desks face each other
across some six feet of the same
office area and barely a rubber
band's flick away from software
editor Jeremy Spencer.

It's an opportune moment, as
well, \n terms of timing, for
CRASH has now become, thanks
to you the readers, just aboutthe
most popular computer title in
Britain, with sales rivalling those
of the biggest and longest
established publications in the
field. Every indication points to
the fact that sales are still rising
rapidly — so, hello to the 4,000
(approximately) new readers
this month!

I haven't entirely abandoned
CRASH, however, as there are
still lots of things to write for the
magazine, but from now on, the
day to day headaches will all
belong to Graeme 1 So with no
more ado, l r U hand over the page
to your new editor, who has s
few strong things to say about . .
.what follows.

Roger Kean

WHAT A SILLY
HUNT!

There's more to a good
magazine than a string of
excfusives. In the last couple of
months, however, the race for
'scoops' in the software industry
has been on — with a vengeance
— and a few people have been
left with egg on their faces in the
hunt for exclusives.

Some software houses have a
very strange idea of what
constitutes an exclusive story—
one in particular peddled each
part of a three -part game as
three separate exclusives, while
another managed to ha nd out an
exclusive on the same product
to several magazines
simultaneously, which left
everyone looking rather foolish,
'It all depends on what you
mean by "an exclusive' ,' as one
software house said recently,

AH good fun really, except a

couple of magazines, annoyed
at having missed out on
previews and excfusives have
resorted to 'dirty tricks'. 'We
don't hold discussions with
companies which advertise with
CRASH ' was the message given
to a software house by one of
our supposedly reputable
competitors at the start of a
meeting the other week: the
meeting ended rather abruptly!
A day or so later a carload of
executives from the meetingfess
magazine was sent up the Ml to
buy an expensive lunch for the
people who advertised in
CRASH. (We don't have to buy
our advertisers large lunches —
cheers lads!)

Another editor, this time from
a Commodore magazine, was
miffed by an exclusive review of
a certain game in our sister
magazineZZAPI 64, and rang up
the software house concerned
to inform them that someone
had been in touch with his
classified advertisement
manager trying to sell pirate
copies. It would be strange,
considering the circumstances,
if he hadn't recognised perfectly
well that this would cast
aspersions on ZZAPI's integrity,
as these copies must either have
been taken from the one and
only working version of the
game, lent to ZZAPJ for the
review, or have been supplied

by someone from the software
house itself; indeed to make the
point, the software house was
told that the classified ad
contained wording to the effect '
. , , as seen in ZZAPI magazine'.
As it was, the editor concerned
was unable to provide any
names and addresses to
substantiate his allegations —
nor was the software house
through their own private
investigations. No pirate copies
existed, and the whole exercise
was a set-up.

The same thing happened to
CRASH — the same software
company was contacted about a
Spectrum game by the same
magazine publisher, who
claimed that pirates had
contactedthem having obtained
copies of their Spectrum game
which we reviewed exclusively.
Oddly, the magazine claimed,
these pirates mostly lived in the
Midlands. (Ludlow's in the
Midlands — geddit?) Th is time,
the a I legat io n wa s that either
CRASH mail order had supplied
the game, well before release
date, or that the pirates had
clandestinely received an illegal
copy from someone at CRASH
Trouble was, the 'informant'
didn't know that the name of the

fjame had been changed at the
ast moment, and that we had
been given such en early copy,
that ours still had the original

name, ff we had supplied a
pirate, he would be offering
copies of the game with its
original name— which the
informant didn't know. Moral: If
you're going to cast aspersions,
make sure you get your facts
straight.

But such behind the scenes
wranglings between supposed
grown-ups, involving peeved
magazine editors and fibbing
advertisement salespeople
telling untruths about our
circulation figures are not really
of direct impact to CRASH
readers — a band which grows
in number by thousands every
month. And they have little
impact on CRASH itself.

If our competitors stopped to
think for a moment, they might
realise that giving a full review
to a game which has only been
seen in a part fin ished state, |ust
so they can use the banner
'EXCLUSIVE', is really ripping
off their readers.

Giving a couple of paragraphs
by way of a review to a game
which hasn't even seen the
inside of their office as one
Spectrum magazine recently
did, is really a total con job On
the Commodore 64 front, the
ZZAP! team has noticed
exclusive reviews of
'Commodore' games in other
magazines which have been
illustrated by Spectrum screen

Mr Graeme Kidd

CRASH August 1985 7

shots (Rocky Horror Show, for
one} and are really reviews of
Spectrum games!

Writing an exclusive review of
an unfinished game by lifting
chunks from Press Releases,
and joining them together with
well-chosen phrases so it
sounds like the writer has played
the game is little short of
fraudulent. Especially if the
author has only played the game
on another computer, or had a
ten-minute run through during a
visit to the software house's
offices.

A fewtrue stories, each from a
different magazine. All of which
are probably losing readers to
CRASH {and Z2API) as a result
of thei r dirty dealings. Suits us!

Like all journalists,, the CRASH
team enjoy getting a good
exclusive — but if it i s a n
exclusive preview, we'll call it
that, and not pretend we've had
a chance to play the game and
then go on to invent a 'full'
review. We've had a couple of
early looks at new products in
this issue of CRASH, from Mikrc-
Gen and Legend amongst

others, but we're not calling
them exciusives.

We've dropped out of the race
7- we're winning a far more
important one. Anyway, our
readers are quite bright enough
to work out where they can read
genuine comments ahead of the
crowd, without having to be told
so in big letters. Nor have we got
time for petty wranglings and
smear campaigns — we're too
busy having fun and putting
together magazines we enjoy
writing as much as we hope you
enjoy reading.

Graeme Kidd

r

PROGRAMS REVIEWED IN THIS ISSUE

ACTJON BIKER Master

tronic

BABA LIBA Silversoft 16

CHARLIE AND THE

CHOCOLATE FACTORY

Hill McGibbon 38

CHEMISTRY Merrt/Clpud

9 104

THE COVENANT PSS 42
CYLU Firebird 14

FRENCH VOCABULARY
, Rose Software 104

FRANKIEGOESTO
HOLLYWOOD Ocean
GO TO HELL 666

Software
HYPERSPORTS

Imagine

JET SET WILLY II
Software Projects
JUGGERNAUT CRL
JUNGLE JUMBLE Clever
Clogs (APS) 103

MONOPOLY Leisure
Genius 120

12

103
37

34

25

45
116

NODES OF YESOD

Odin

PARTY TIME Clever
Clogs (APS)
PAWS Artie

PICTURE LOGIC Addison
Wesley 102

PIPELINE CSM 39

POSTMAN PAT'S TRAIL
GAME Lo no man 102
PROFANATION Gremlin
Graphics 106

ROCCO Gremlin
Graphics 40

ROLY POLY GOES TO
HOSPITAL David Todd

40
SAIMA200M
Silversoft 16

SCIENCE Clever Clogs
(APS) 104

SPY vs SPY Beyond 24

ADVERTISERS' INDEX

ACF 49

Leisure Genius

41

Activision 65, 73

Lerm

87

Adnata 23

Level 9

33

Argus Press Software 64, 63

Mancomp

49.83

CRASH Mail Order 36

Melbourne House

4

CRASH Back numbers 44

Microcentre

55

Datasoft 37

Mikro-Gen

121

Do mar It 89

Mirrorsoft

9

EBte.3, 10-11

Monolith

43

The Edge 99,105,119
Firebird 79

New Generation

27

Ocean

57, 7S, 131

Frel 115

Odin

53

Gargoyle Games 37

Ram Electronics

B6~86

Giteoft 93

Ultimate

61

Gremlin Graphics 47,107, 127

US Gold

2

Hewson Consultants 6

Virgin

39

Imagine 132

Vortex

15

At A NEWSAGENT
NEAR YOUR
FRIEND

% Letters [a
and compel '

ZZAP! 64 is monthly and costs 95p

'ZZAPf 64' & 'CRASH' an both Nvwsf fold Publications

8 CRASH August 1985

"What makes the game is the graphics - large, witty,
bizarre and beautifully animated ■ . . each screen has
something remarkable, and horribly difficult puzzles
. . . Dynamite Dan is not just another Miner surrogate
and is at least as essential to your collection."
Popular Computing Weekly.

48K Spectrum/Spectrum + £6.95

p opu/ar

Com

Puting

Weekl

Pick

of the

Week

Maxwell House, Worship Street, London EC2A 2EN. Tel 01-377 4600
Trade orders to: Purnell Book Centre, Paulton, Bristol BS18 5LQ, Tel 0761 413301

1

, * j9

KtunlikeJY heavy
contenders in tfie boxing simulation to beat em all!

FRANK BRUNO

CHALLENGER)

CANADA

The Wg, plodding, lumber-
jack from Canada, with the
beauty of a grizzly Dear and
le speed of an elephant.

JAPAN

I the way from the land of
ie rising Hf-Fi Is Fling Long
lop, a martial arts master
" No-Can-Do.

USSR

Andra Is a fast, dancing
Russian who goes to your
head faster than a neat
glass of vodka.

AFRICA

Tribal means trouble 1
anyone, he has a temper
that aets the better of youi
Landing the punches with
unnerving accuracy

FRANCS
Frenchle may appear to be
cool, suave and sophisti-
cated, but this deceptive
facade hides a rather
menacing Individual, ready
to make you see stars.

ITALY

RavioW Is not a man to mess
with. He knows all the dirty
tricks, and uses them
without a care in the world.

AUSTRALIA

Fed on a diet of empty lager
cans, this man feels no pain.
Pure un-interrupted punch
power.

USA

! world Famous, wortd
Champion Peter Perfect,
The most neat and accurate
boxer in history is set to

[ drive his engine of glory all
over you. could anyone be a
match for macho man?

sr«?Z

%

?/s

ft

&

»*

^

GAME
EATURE

• Eight fiery opponents, each with their
own distinctive fighting stvte.

•Smooth-scrolling camera action, giving
the best view of the fight at all times.

• Furious three minute rounds with
'knock-down' and 'knockout features.

• warm-Up and 'Autoplay sequences.

• K.O. Meter, Best K.O. Time, Score and
Bonus displayed on screen.
• Addftional boxers to load from tape.

•Hall of fame.

> Endorsed by Heavyweight
Champion - Frank Bruno,

Elite Systems Limited Anchor House Anchor Road Aldrrdge Walsall West Midlands Telephone (0922} 55852 Telex 355622 SPETELG

N*0«D*E»S OF

NODES

OF

YESOD

Producer: Odin
Computer Graphics

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £9.95
Language: machine code

Author: the team

The blurb sheet that comes with
the game goes on at length to
describe the home, breakfast
and lifestyle of The Rl Hon.
Charlemagne 'Charlie'

Fotheringham-Grunes (our

hero, and alleged apprentice
saviour of the universe}. You
may fancy the mission, set him
by a little chap in a rhododen-
dron bush, rather less than the
breakfast (butter dripping kip-
pers etc) he has just downed.
What the chap form tCUPS tells
him in rather broken English
{either that or the Odin spelt-
checker needs a good kick) is
that they are getting some rather
strange signals from the moon,
Would Charlie be so kind (and so
stupid) as to go and find the
'ertoschectr responsible?

The game begins with you
wandering about on the surface
of the moon (it must be the
moon because in the back-
ground there is a very nice piccy
of the earth). As you as
along, try to avoid falling down
I'-otes before finding a
friendly mole — the lunar moles
are a helpful bunch compared to
frSKies found on (and in)
you r average ea rth lawn . To g ive
you some idea of the humour
incorporated into this game the
wall chewing tunnef finding
mole has braces!

With mole in tow leap down
one of the holes and you will find
yourself in a cavern with ledges
and monsters, and more ledges
and monsters! Most of the
monsters are a nuisance — they
merely get in your way rather
than doing you harm — but they
are quite fun to squash. Lower
down in each of the caverns you
find monsters of a different
composition; they are not so
easy to kill, and rf you get too
close you will be thrown all over
the place and lose a great deal of
energy.

Monsters aside It's best not to
forget the main purpose of
Charlie's trip and which is to find
the Monolith. He has already

12 CRASH August 1985

worked out that to get to it he
needs to find and collect eight
"keys' or a) ch terns, so he must
explore the caverns and stay
alive. The alchiems are rather
attractive crystal objects.
Indeed, it is so attractive that you
are not the only one collecting
them, so proceed with great care
rf you don't want to become a
victim of what could be the first
lunar mugger.
The task is pretty simple but is

hugely complicated by the size
of the cavern system; not all of
the access routes are clear so
you will have to use the mole to
make extra tunnels. The game
includes features such as whirl-
winds that teleport you to some-
where that you would rather not
be. Huge and deep shafts also
exist, which can mean the cert-
ain loss of a life if you tumble
down one — unless you get
lucky and find that the one you

just fell into has a very powerful
up draft.

Extra lives can be found scat-
tered about the sub-lunar
environment, which Is just as
well because on the bottom of
the screen you can see your vital
signs iicking away, your current
life force ebbing away and your
movements slow with every
bearing you take. When you get
an extra life you will also find
yourself with some things called

gravity sticks. These are very
useful because not only do they
render galactic muggers harm-
less but also induce a gravity
field in the immediate area
ing all monsters (if you can
count a cuddly teddy on a spring
as a monster) to fall to the bot-
tom of the cavern.

CRITICISM

m 'After starting the game I had
to look twice to make sure that
it was not by Ultimate. We are
talking fab graphics here a really
detailed main character which
somersaults with a degree of

smoothness that puts a Rolls
Royce to shame {RR's work
better greasy side down — Soft
Ed), I really enjoyed Nodes of
Yesod but I was slightly disturb-
ed by the similarities to Under-
wurlde. but that aside, It's a
SMASH to say the least. Little
things like the feature of the
mole that chews it's way
through walls realty add to the
game. Overall an excellent
game which is certainty related

to one of the mege-whatstts
from Imagine that we never goit
to see/

• ' Nodes of Yesod has got to be
one of the best games this year
and probably one of the most
playable I have loaded into my
Spectrum to date. It has brilliant
graphics which are very well
drawn and an/mated. The sound
is great and there is a fantastic
speech sequence just before the
last block of code loads. I love
the way that your man jumps,
very similar to the character in
Impossible Mission on the CBM,
At first sight Nodes of Yesod
seems much like Underwurlde
by Ultimate; in fact there are a
number of other similarities, the
music for example sounds very
frke that from Shadowf\re,and
the mole acts in a similar way to
the servant in Dragontort I had
trouble loading the version I was
given but I understand this fault
was a unique one (which is a
relief/. This game is certainly a
CRASH SMASH'

• 'Immediately this game had
loaded f was overwhelmed by its
quality, and after a considerable
time playing it I am even more
impressed. There is so much
attention to detail, the chewing
noise of the mole, the move-
ment of the of the characters, the
inside of the caverns and tun-
nels, everything is well done,
even down to the little ocillo-
scope which shows your energy
level. The graphics are superb
and very rewarding. There are
some fantastic surprises in store
and that's what makes the game
so playable. Add the fact that the
game does not require the brain
to work overtime to solve hund-
reds of ever-so-subtie problems
and you have a game that is
addictive but not over frustrat-
ing. A very worthy SMASH and I
can't wait to see more from
Odin'

COMMENTS

Control keys: G-fVA-F

up/down, alternate bottom row

keys for left/right

Joystick: Kempston, cursor and

Interface 2

Keyboard play: probably better

than using a joystick

Use of colour: exceptional

Graphics: superlative

Sound: not extensive, but when

it is used it's great

Skill levels: one

Lives: three but more can be

found

Screens: 256

General rating; you'll be over

the moon witn this one (1)

Use of computer: 92%

Graphics: 96%

Payability: 93%

Getting started: 91%

Addictive qualities: 90%

Value for money: 89%

Overall: 93%

CRASH August 1985 13

Zfic€h

CYLU

Producer: Firebird
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £2.S0
Language; machine code
Author: Geoff Foley

ft wasn't long ago that we all
raved about Knightlore and
Alien 8, well now Firebird have
produced a game that graphic-
ally is very similar but much
larger.

To set the scene. The people
of Tsfu need a leader and it
seems that they are prepared to
consider any oldtrog that comes
in off the galactic by — ways.

puters I/O unit which is located
in the start room. There are isol-
ated areas of the maze which
can only be reached via a tele-
port link and to operate the link
you will need to find the correct
key. You must always keep your
eye on the fuel situation — units
are consumed very quickly.
Scattered around the maze are
lots of fuel pods which can be
collected and used when
needed.

The character on the screen is
steered with reference to the
direction that it is facing rather
than in relation to the screen. In
other words if you want to move
left you must turn to the left and
then move forward, this can be a
little confusing at times but one

the display and depends on how
much time you waste and how
quickly you manage to locate
items of importance and put
them to use.

CRITICISM

• The first Alien 8 lookaltke is
here in the form of Cylu. This
game has graphics which are
very similar to Ultimata's 3D
effects but obviously not quite
as good. The sound is not very
well used, only a few beeps here
and there, which is a shame as it
might have livened up the game
a bit. Payability wise this game
doesn't rate too highly as there
are a few mobility problems

of this game. Although the the
graphics on any one screen are

washed in only one colour the
effect is still pretty good. If you
enjoy making maps I am sure
you will have some fun with this
but don't expect the scenery to
be too varied. A very high qual-
ity budget game and a must for
the mappers.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: very wide
selection

Joystick: programmable only
Keyboard play: fine
Use of colour: only one col our to
each screen
| Graphics: Knightlore style but

You, Cylu, play the part Of just
one such trog. The Tsluvians
have devised a test to make sure
that you are capable of leading
them and a very complicated
test it is too. I Why can't they just
hold an election like everybody
else?). The Evoltans have a very
large and unpleasant maze and
they have scattered 24 objects
around It, To prove your worth
you must retrieve ail of the
objects and return them to the
start point, do that and you get
to become theTBC Qsluvian Big
Cheese).

The journey around the maze
is fraught with dangers hitherto
uni imagined. To kick off with
there are 32 forcefields which
can only be passed by finding
and loading the appropriate
processor into the main com-

14 CRASH August 1985

soon gets used to it. You can
only ca rry five objects at any one
time. When an object is picked
up it is placed into one of the five
coloured boxes on the upper
right of the screen, You are able
to select which item you would
like to use, perhaps a fuel pod,
by entering the number of the
box. When you approach a
forcefield you can determine
which coded chip you need to
turn it off by pressing the exam-
ine button. The screen will come
up with the code number and
then It's up to you to pop off and
find the appropriate CPU,

Against all of the odds you
may manage to impress the
leaderless ones, but by how
much rather depends on your
efficiency level. This is given as a
constant reading at the side of

with your man which make the
game more infuriating then fun
to play. Generally 1 wouldn't
strongly recommend this game
— but as it only costs £2.50, you
can't really go wrong.'

• 'There's no point pretending
that this game is anywhere near
as elegan t as those it flatters. But
for all of that Cylu is a playable
game, f say the graphics aren't
as elegant but they are still very
good and create a passable
effect, The game itself is com-
plex but perhaps a tittle thin. I
enjoyed playing it even though
some of the Ultimate perfection-
ists in the office scoffed at it. Well
worth the asking price. '

• 'I am greatly impressed both
by the graphics and by the size

smaller and less detailed

Sound: clicking for movement

Skill levels: one

Lives: one

Screens: two hundred

General rating: for the price this

game is a must

Use of computer 66%

Graphics 75%

Payability 70%

Getting started 68%

Addictive qualities 72%

Value for money 85%

Overall 79%

Approaching fast...
brain- blowing graphic s ...mega-blasting power. ..fast-action playab1l1ty.
'highway encounter'.. .a totally new direction f r om vortex.

once you're on it.. .there's no turning back.

H J G H W AY EN C U H T E ft F R SHC T It U M 4 8 K ■ £ 7 . -9 5

VORTEX SOFTWARE (5AIES) LIMITED, VORTtX HOUSE, 24 KANSAS AVfNUE, OfF SOUTH LANGW0*TKY ROAD, SALFORD Mi 2CL.

S AIM A ZOOM
and
BABA- LIBA

JSaha'&tx*

Producer: Silver soft
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £6.95 and
£7.95 respectively
Language: Spanish
machine code
Author: Victor Ruiz

These two games, which are
sold separately, form a two part
graphical adventure game. The
central character is a chap called
Professor Indiana Smith (no rel-
ation to the Joneses) and his
ultimate goal is to rescue poor
Victor and nick a bit of I oot (sa I v-
age treasure) in the process.

In the first game, Saimazoom,
our hero is trying to explore a
hundred-screen region for some
treasure. In effect this area is a
maze because hills rivers and
trees act as barriers. As Smith
wanders about the pint he will
occasion upon a variety of
items, most important of which
are canisters of water — his
water level is always falling and

ure could be locked in one of the
strange locked rooms — the key
wilt let you in for a quick explore
but mind the snakes.

For his second mission Smith
finds himself in the gardens of
Baba Liba, His task; rescue
Victor, find the treasure and
pinch a princess. Again the
garden forms a vast maze
except that this time the barriers
cannot be penetrated. You must
use your skill to find a route and
get the three keys that allow you
into the palace. There are
more nasty people and unpleas-
ant wildlife to deal with but at
least you have the means. You
start the game with 14 short-
fuse bombs. If you find your
path blocked by something,
drop a bomb and dash into
another screen, put your fingers
to your ears and wait. When you
return the personage will have
been killed, Alas one cannot use
bombs for blowing up the
shrubbery, then the task of
reaching the palace would be
ust too easy.

Professor Indians Smith languishes in the garden of the
Palace ofBaba-Libo, prior to mooting a stick y ond. no doubt -

needs constant topping up.
Other finds include canoes, pick-
axes, guns, keys et sf (Al plays
no part however). These items
are placed into a 'bag' able to
contain only four items, which
are shown on the side of the
playing area. Now, if Smith finds
himself in a tight spot because
he is being chased by the Tibag
Indians or the occasional wild
animal the assorted goodies can
come in very handy,

The canoe can be used to
escape over a river, the gun to
kill or the pickaxe to move
mountains. These objects can
only be used once, so if you
cross a river you must find
another to come back. One item
that can be retained takes the
form of a key. Some of the treas-

16 CRASH August 1985

CRITICISM

• 'Saimazoom is essentially a
col lect the bits game. The graph-
ics are unremarkable but this
type of game can be instantly
playable but, as in this case, has
little lasting appeal, I found the
animals too easy to dodge and
the game too easy to play. Baba-
Liba is marginally better than
part one. The maze area is more
enclosed and better drawn, the
nasties are a lot nastier so the
bombs come in handy. Of the
two parts I prefered the latter,'

• 'Saimazoom is one of those
games, you know the sort, you
buy it and fee! you have been

ripped off. Later on you begin to
get into it a fittte more, until you
buy another game, after that ft
rots in a comer. Apart from
being very dated (can't find any-
thing desperately wrong with it,
but it is rather a step back for
Sitversoft The graphics are big
and jolly and jerky. Playabitity-
wise Saimazoom becomes bor-
ing after a few goes, i would give
it a miss. Baba-Uba on the other
hand is a much better game. The
graphics, while stii/ dated, seem
to fill up the screen a fitt/e more
(like my Art teacher f hate empty
spaces). What little sound there
is, is good, more would have
helped a lot Baba-Liba is the
more playable and more addict-
ive of the two games, '

• 'I was pretty disappointed
with these two games, I can't
help feeling they slipped
through some sort of time
thingie, perhaps from the days
of the ZX-80. While they are both
fun, Saimazoom more so, they
get boring pretty quickly.
Neither are hard games to play
so perhaps there rests the

answer. I will recommend them
for the toddler gamers, lots of
mini fun, not too much aggrav-
ation.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P left/right, G7A

up /down, space to fire

Joystick: Kempston

Keyboard play: good choice of

keys

Use of colour: very basic

Graphics: neat but dated

Sound: limited

Skill levels: 1

Lives: 4 and 3

Screens: 100 each

General rating: dated, perhaps a

good toddler starter kit

Use of computer 52%
Graphics 65%

Payability 46%

Getting started 65%

Addictive qualities 57%
Valueformoney 50&42%
Overall 53 & 48%

ACTION
BIKER

Producer: Mastertronic
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £1.99
Language: machine code
Author: M. J. Child

It will not escape yo u r notice that
the name KP Skips is plastered
all over the inlay and even the
pame, it's all part of a promot*
lonal tie up between said KPand
Mastertronic. Clumsy Colin is
the star of the KP Skips promo-
tional campaign, has stepped off
the front of a Skips bag to mount
his Action Bike for the duration
of this game.

Colin has a friend called Marti
who needs to be taken to the
local spaceport. A spaceport
may seem a little out of pi ace but
it seems that Colin is having a bit
of a dream. In this dream he
must find Marti, but at 8 O'clock
he will wake up to the bitter
clanging of his alarm clock.
Marti must be found before
Colin wakes up but Colin's first
task is to get some extra equip-
ment together. Problems. First,
he needs extra equipment if he
is to find his friend — you know
the sort of thing, a periscope for
example. His motorbike will be
very useful but alas it also needs
add ons. Colin #must collect
these extras from his friends to
improve the bike's performance.
The more auxiliary equipment
he has the easier the task
becomes.

An example perhaps? This
particular town has a great
many oil spills, there are mini oil
slicks everywhere. If Coiin's bike
runs into one then he is going to
spend a lot of time spinning and
generally falling about. The
answer, of course, is a better set
of tyres. Out of the 1 50 houses in
the town only 50 contain any-
thing of value. When you think
you have found a useful house
you can enter it and, from the
from the birds eye view on the
screen, examine its contents.
Your progress is frustrated by
people not being in when you
visit, or if they am in they may
tempt you with a cup of tea. If
you stay you are wasting valu-
able time.

Out on the streets, life is
fraught with dangers, the worst
being the other traffic. When
you collide with another vehicle
this will lessen the amount of
time left for sleep and if you
crash too often, Colin will wake
up and that will be that.

Apart from the crash damage
you must keep an eye on your
fuel. The amount you have is
shown on screen, and you can
top up your tank from the
garages in the town. Scattered
about the streets there are
packets of Skips for you to pick
up, each one gains you a point. A

record of the score and high
score is kept and presented
above the amount of sleep time
remaining.

CRITICISM

• 'Action Biker has Inter-game
pauses that are far too long. The
game itself is pretty decent and
scores well for value for money.
While it was playable I can't say
that I found it addictive, I was
also disappointed with both the
sound and the degree of control
one had over the bike. It was
really very difficult to change
directions at junctions, for
instance.'

• 'Action Biker seems to follow-
ing along with the trend for
arcadei adventure games, i am
not over keen on the presenta-
tion of the screen, a tot of space
has been wasted. The sound
was annoying after only a short
time. Has the potential for being
a good game but does not quite
make the grade. '

to change gear

Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

Fuller, Cursor

Keyboard ptay: responsive

Use of colour: good

Graphics: below average

Sound: very limited

Skill levels: one

Lives: one

Screens: scrolling

General rating: disappointing

Use of computer 40%

Graphics 53%

Payability 57%

Getting started 41%

Addictive qualities 51%

Value for money 64%

Overall 52%

• I don't like this game at all. I
find it very hard to play and un
rewarding to boot, the graphics
are poor by Mastertronic stand-
ards: there's a lot of flicker, no
smooth movement and charac-
ters seem quite able to vanish
for a while. The other vehicles
made the game very frustrating.
Before you even get a chance to
move from home you are
attacked and lose sleep points. I
found it very hard to find and
enter a house, mostly because
the instructions that came with
the game are so vague.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: N/M left/ right, A/
Z accelerate/decelerate, SPACE

HOW THE RATINGS WORK

IMPORTANT CHANGE! ! I

After more than a year of
maintaining ■ the CRASH
rating system, w? have n*ade
one important alteration. The
OVERALL rating is no longer
calculated as a strict average
of the previous 6 ratings.
Now each reviewer is indep-
endently allowed to judge
the Overall worth of a game
as a separate rating. We
hope this will help overcome
some of the inconsistencies
which readers have noted in
the past.

OVERALL PERCENTAGE is
now a separate and distinct
rating. ALL ratings are an
average of three reviewers'
opinions.

Under 30% — a waste of time
31-40% — generally poor but
may appeal to some
41-60% — below average to

average

51-55% — reasonable average if

game type enjoyed

56-60 % — above averftgeto good

61-70% — good on most cqi

generally recommended

71-80% — very good, recdnv

nded
81-89% - excellent
Above 90% - & CRASH Smash,
words I :

CRASH August 1985 17

NEWS

ZXMICROFAIR — A
HALL FULL OF
THINGS?

What s smashing day out we had at the ZX Mtcrofair the other
weekend. Apart from having to wait nearly half an hour for break-
fast at a Little Chef on the way, everything went smoothfy. Arriving
in the Horticultural Hall, we set up our stand — and began selling
copies of the Jury issue of CRASH.

After a couple of hours, the 600-odd copies we could spare had all
gone and we had time to wander round and take a few photo-
graphs. Jeremy Kirsch and Barrio Gordon, pictured here, were just
two readers we had to disappoint, having sold out.

The fair was quite fun, all in all, but there were few new or
innovative products on show. Lota of cut price games on offer,
however , . . and there was plenty to spend your money on, as
Matthew Ablewhite and Chris Benrngton explained to Jeremy
Spencet, our Software Editor.

ENSURE YOUR REGULAR
COPY OF CRASH

When a magazine is rising in circulation as rapidly as
CRASH is doing it tends to sell out immediately and you
may experience difficulty in obtaining your copy every
month. So the best thing to do is place a regular order with
your local newsagent, which you can do by handing him
this form.

Please place me a regular monthly order for
CRASH Magazine.

Name . .
Address

To the Newsagent:

CRASH Magazine is published in the middle of every
month by Newsfietd Ltd, 7-2 King Street, Ludlow,
Shropshire SY8 1AQ. Tel: 05845851, and distributed to the
newstrade by COMAG (08954 44055), Please check with
the publishers if you have any difficulties in obtaining
supply.

18 CRASH August 1985

NPUT

GO FISHING WITH
ALLIGATA

Next month we'll be running a competition and a half, with Ailigata
I who are offering a Week's Adventure Hol iday and a full set of fishing
tackle to the winner of their Jack Chariton's Match Fishing compet-
ition.

As a sneak preview, we can say that the competition will require
you to identify a whole of range of little swim my fish from their
portraits. So nip down to the library and get hold of a copy of 'Five
Hundred Famous Fish' or a similar spotters guide and start boning

HOLIDAY TIME

This issue Lloyd Mangram took his annual holiday immediately after
completing the Forum pages, which accounts for the lack of Merely
Mangram this issue. One game which deserves a quick mention here
— Fai flight from The Edge. Ad we've seen is a couple of screen
dumps from a very early version of the game, taut from what we've
been told by Tim Langdell, the man behind the company, it promises
to be quite a stunning game,

F&rriightwiU have all the logic of a certain well-known role playing
game, and features amazing 3D routines, part of a programming
technique the chaps down at The Edge have dubbed The World-
maker'. Much more of that, and the other new release from The
Edge, That's 7 he Spirit next issue.

Lots and tots of other goodies are also sitting on Lloyd's desk . . .
but there's simply not time to tell you about them this month. Sorry
folks, you'lf just have to wait for a suntenned Lloyd to return from his
hols and catch up with him next issue.

As we write this the men from Argus Press Software have arrived
to show us a host of new games, including Rupert and The Toy-
maker's Party, the first of four games, which are part of the cele-
brations being held to mark Rupert's birthday (we daren't tell you
how old he is this year!) , , , must dash, it's time to go to Nutwood,
'Yabadabbadooi', commented Peter Holme, alluding to another
character who will soon be appearing in APS games

NEW
DEVELO-
PMENTS
AT THE
MIRROR

Following the interview with
Jim Mackonochie which formed
the basis of John Minson's
profile on Mirrorsoft in this
issue, news broke of Robert
Maxwell's financial rescue bid
for Sinclair. As our deadline
looms, details remain uncertain
as to how this will effect Mirror-
soft, but bearing in mind the
philosophy of Mirror Group
Newspapers to take a positive
investment in the future of new
technology as outlined in the
interview . . . prospects are
intriguing. At this stage, how-
ever, nobody is witling to say
too much. Well keep you infor-
med of further developments.
Meanwhile, the past couple of
months have seen two new
junior educational packages
from the company, plus a highly

successful adventure into the
world of arcade action with the
CRASH smashed Dynamite Dan,
Jim Mackonochie promises a
new program in the Home Dis
covery series (to be launched at
the PCW show later this year)
which will continue Mirrorsoft's
commitment to quality, which-
ever area they are involved in.

ROS-
ETTA
TURNS
TURTLE

Our very own Educational Soft-
ware Reviewer, Rosetta McLeod
of CRASH Course fame, is about
to_ launch into the world of educ-
ational software in her own
right. Mews reaches us from
Turtle Software that Rosetta is
currently working on a program
for them which is based on the
oil industry is centred' on her
home town of Aberdeen. No
doubt it'll be a goody . . . but
should we let her review it?

CHARTING

THE

INDUSTRY

The big cheeses upstairs in
Newsfields financial division
suggest we should run a new
chart in forthcoming issues of
CRASH — a totally innovative
ranking of software houses, not
by games but by debts. This
chart could be the one that takes
the temperature of the software
industry, month by month, let-
ting you see which of the soft-
ware companies are not being
good snakes, and haven't been
coughing up for the advertise-
ments they ve placed in our hal-
lowed pages to encourage you
to buy their games. Could be
interesting. . . ,

But our financial wizards do
have a point to make. In the last
few months several companies
have gone bust or disappeared
owing us money, having delay-

ed payment for ages. Fantasy
Software for instance, with
£4,1 90, Bug Byte with CI ,220
and Micromania with £3,475

Some advertising agen< ::
are being a bit naughty too,
collecting money for advertise-
ments from their clients and not
passing it on to us for ages and
ages.

So the idea of having a chart of
the top ten companies who owe
us money came to mind,
naming names and stating
sums. Could make interesting
reading throughout the industry
— ■ and who knows, dear readers,
you might not want to support
the companies that don't want
to p lay f ai r wi th CRASH .

We re compiling the chart in
time for next issue. Look out for
it- it could cause a stirl

CRASH August 1985 19

Breathe new life into the user port

WITH THE 64K

GRAEME KIDD and JEREMY SPENCER pay a
visit to the land of High Technology and very
short stay car parks, Bracknell, home of
Mikro-Gen

MIKRO— GEN are not well
known for their hardware add-
ons. In fact their last dabble into
that market was with the very
first ZX81 joystick (2X81; an
ear/y IK sub-£10Q machine with
built in BASfC and membrane
keyboard — Galactic Encyclo
paedia. Early Earth Computers).
Their latest project. The Mikro—
Plus promises to make a much
greater impact on the Spectrum
world.

How often have you heard
that computer games could be
infinitely better if only there was
more memory in which to put
the things. Way back in the good
old days, Imagine promised us a
'mega game' that would only be
possible through an extra box of
bits stuck onto the back of a
Spectrum. We held our breaths;
and nearly asphixiated. But, if
any of you are still without
breath you can relax. Mikro-Gen
have taken over where Imagine
failed to tread. At this year's
PCW Show they are launching
an add-on and two games that
they hope will set new standards
for Spectrum software.

As we all know, the Spectrum
uses the Z80 processor which is
capable of addressing 64K bytes
of memory. Of that 64K only
about 42K odd is available for
use by softwa re r the rest is either
screen working space or taken
up by the 16K monitor program.
The monitor program is respon-
sible for storing the machine
code routines that perform all of
the operations we take for
granted. For example if you
want your Spectrum to print a
flashing character to the screen
it will have to look up the mach-
ine code operations that it needs
to do this — and the instructions
are held in the form of routines
inside the ROM. If you can re-
place the Sinclair ROM chip with
one of your own, with your own
routines built into it, you could
after the entire machine. There
are disc systems which, while
they don't physically remove the
Spectrum chips, are able to

20 CRASH August 1985

mask or shadow them. With the
shadow ROMs in place the disc
can download the routines of its
own; the Spectrum can be
changed into a dedicated word
processor, or communications
terminal.

The ability to shadow the
mon itor ROM is not i n itself new,
it's an old trick and the BBC and
Amstrad machines have such
facilities built in. Mikro-Gen
have put together a piece of
hardware which replaces the
Spectrum Instructions with code
for a game: the rest of the game
is loaded in from the cassette.
But, the real breakthrough is the
price — £14.% will get you a
complete hardware and soft

ware package.

The hardware itself looks
rather like a joystick interface
and conveniently enough it has
one of those built in. With this
unit plugged into the Spectrum
the programmer can put togeth-
er a program 50% larger than is
usual, Mike Meek of Mikro-Gen
claims. Because routines des-
igned specifically for that partic-
ular game can be put into the
chip the memory of the whole
machine can be used more effic-
iently. The built in joystick port is
a good example: memory does
not have to be wasted catering
for a number of different joystick
protocols. Some areas of the
Spectrum's memory are shared

by other functions, so using
those 'slow' areas causes delays
in accessing the routines. Up till
now programmers have had
little choice, they had to use
what memory was available.
Now the fastest areas of mem-
ory can hold the code that does
the hard and fast work. Filled in
vector graphics can become a
reality.

Because of the extra space
available and because specific
routines can be tailored for each
game, Mikro-Gen are able to add
extra features. Two such feat-
ures are pla n ned to appea r i n the
first two releases. The first
allows users to make a micro-
drive copy by giving a single

The tmart of the Mikro Plus

i

command, the routine will do
the rest. Mikro-Gen's Mike Meek
feels strongly about the prob-
lems caused by poor cassette
recorders and so wants an
Azimuth alignment routine built
into the Plus. More and exciting
extras are being considered for
the future.

Initially the system will, be
launched with two games. Battle
of the Planets and Shadow of the
Unicom. Each one comes com-
plete with cassette and the add-
on, the add-on being specific to
the individual game. Battle of
the Planets is a massive, superb-
ly animated arcade shoot-'em-
up split into three linked, but
separate games, 'I would feed
happy selling each part of the
game separately,' Mike told us,
so all three together we see as a
real blockbuster'.

The second game, Shadow of
the Unicorn is a role playing
adventure featuring ten individ-
ual characters where Everyone's
a Wal/y had only five. The game
s so involved that a book is pro-
vided to set the scene for the
game.

The future possibilities for this
system are fantastic. If volurrte
sales take off as expected then
the games will soon cost even
less than the £14,95 you'll have
to fork out at the start. Some
software houses are tentatively
talking about licencing deals.
Asked what Uncle Clive thought
about the system Mihe replied,
'Well I can tell you that there is a
definite tie-up between our-
selves and Sinclair Research. I
do know what Sinclair's plans
are but we have signed a non-
disclosure agreement and in
tend to abide by it/

We tied Mike to the chair and
threatened to nail his hands to
the table. Tell us this Mike, are
these plans going to help Sin-
clair', {ready the nails). 'No . . .
{hammer raised} yes — no ques-
tion about it',

Sinclair aside, Mikro-Gen's
hardware could represent one of
the most exciting developments

The add-on thatmtik&s
it all possible —
THE MiKRO PLUS

the Spectrum has seen for a long
time. When you look at the deal,
a superb game, a buirtin joystick
interface, a microdrive routine
and an Azimuth alignment rout-
ine all for £14,95 I think you will
agree that Mike's pet term
'megagame' sits on Mikro-

Gen's shoulders more easily
than it ever did on Imagine's.
And it couldn't have come from
a nicer bunch of Wally ....

JS

A group of Wtaiiy programmers

FRANK

BRUNO'S

BOXING

Producer: Elfte

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £S.95
Language: machine code
Author: Andy Williams
and Trevor Perks

It's almost as if the Elite team
have been in hiding since their
last effort 911 TS but they have
in fact been very busy, putting
together their contribution to
the current fad for boxing
games: Frank Bruno 's Boxing,

Like in Rocky, your view of the
action is given from behind your
character. The characters are
smaller, but they are able to
move around the ring to a
degree. Unfortunately you can-
not control theirfootwork; this is
a shame because this means
th at not one of the box i n g simu I -
ations leaves any room for what
has to be the smartest tactic —
legging it.

The program allows for a wide
variety of movements. Not only
are left and right head punches
allowed, but body punches too r
and if you opponent is tottering
on the brink you can deliver a
right upper-cut or even a right
hook just to finish him off. You
can make you boxer dodge left
or right, and should you suspect
a biggy coming your way you
can duck. If you don't fancy
exposing yourself to violence by
dodging, you are able to put up a
guard although you will have to
drop it to deliver the body
punches or the upper cut. As the
two combatants slug it out, they
give the appearance of moving
round the ring, but this move-
ment is all controlled by the
computer.

The type of blow you can del-
iver rather depends on the state
of your opponent's health. At
the top of the screen there are
two pictures, Bruno on the right
and the current contender on the
left. Between the two mug shots
a clock, two status bars and a
knock-out meter are displayed.
The status bars increase or
decrease depending on the per-
formance of the appropriate
boxer: if a boxer catches a lot of
punches then his status will
decrease until he topples. If his
status is low but he manages to
turn the tide for a while and give
the other guy some gyp, then as
his opponent's bar diminishes
his own will increase,

If a boxer takes a count
because his status bar has
reached zero, he will get up to
find that his status bar has only
partially recovered, thus reflect-
ing his weaker condition. The
knockout meter registers the

22 CRASH August 1985

number of successive blows
dealt. If you rain down a hail of
blows on your opponent, the
arrows on his knock-out meter
will build up with each punch
until they reach the letters 'KO'.
When they flash you can admin-
ister your final blows, the hook
or upper cut. Should your oppo-
nent break your volley with just
one return blow, then the arrows
will rapidly diminish.

Thus there are two ways you
can knock down your opponent:
wear him down by reducing his
status bar before he reduces
yours; or administer a volley of
punches culminating with a
hook or cut as the knock-out
blow. If you achieve three knock-
outs in underthree minutes then
you win that round, otherwise
your opponent wins on points
and you can only ask for a re-
match.

After winning your first fight
you are given a code which will
allow you to load, from tape, the
next opponent. The fighting
styles of the eight boxers are all
different, and each one is harder
to beat than his predecessor.
The game keeps a record of the
best knock-out times against
each of the boxers and also a
highscore table for the points
scored. If you want to defer a
bout to a I ater date, like after Sta r
Trek, then keep a note of the
code number. They aren't so
easy to come by]

CRITICISM

• 'The main question we were
asked at the ZX fVticrafair must
have been "which do you prefer,
Rocky or Frank Brvno?" Well
now it's time to stop beating
about the bush. I prefer, as box-
ing simulations go, this one, I
agree that the graphics in Rocky
are a good deal better and clear-
er but the movement is so limit-
ed and repetitive as compared
with Bruno. This shortcoming is
made worse because Rocky has
four different levels of skill but
only the one character. For my
part, J would rather leave boxing
simulations alone, but I think it
must be plain that Elite, for once,
offers much more.'

• 'Frank's boxing game is the

type of game that gradually
grows on you. At first using a
lair few keys, things were diffi-
cult Using the joystick alone,
the game was unplayable.
Eventually, using a combination
of both joystick and keys, t
began to make progress. The
graphics are messy at times
when the boxers cross, but they
are generally 0K> I found this
game addictive. '

• 'In my opinion this is the best
of the boxing games that 1 have
seen this month. Even though its
graphics are slightly confusing I
prefer them to Rocky' s as there
is more expression in the faces
of the boxers. There are eight
different characters m the game,.
each with their own personality.

The first is a bully type who
sticks his tongue out at you if
you hit him while his guard is up.
You can really get into playing
this game as it seems very real-
istic in the way the boxers move
and act. Generally this game is
very good, although I can see
myself getting bored with it as
there are only eight characters
to fight.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: 1/A guard

up/down, I/O jab left /right, I/O

with 1 body punch left/right, U7

P dodge left/right, Qto duck, any

on bottom row for knock-out

Joystick: Kempston and

Interface 2

Keyboard play: easier than

using a Joystick

Use of colour: very little used

Graphics: lack clarity but have a

lot of movement

Sound: pretty limited

Skill levels: eight

Lives: three per bout

Screens: N/A

General rating: much more

scope than the others. There,

nowwe'vesaidit!

Use of computer 74%

Graphics 83%

Payability 82%

Getting started 82%

Addictive qualities 79%

Value for money 87%

Overall 86%

mi ifw dorfPhave Po geP your feeP wePL

r l believe Match Fishing brings a whole new meaning to computer
entertainment joining up to 8 players in an atmosphere of friendly rivalry
and competition. Combining the power of the computer, its memory
and speed of action with the skill and excitement of Britain's most
popular outdoor participation sport, Match Fishing is the first of its
kind in allowing all players to participate at one and the same time.
Computer enthusiasts, games players and fishing addicts alike, I'm
sure you will enjoy the excitement
as much as I do.'

Alligata Software Ltd 1 Orange Street, Sheffield S1 4DW Tel: (0742) 7S5796

S-P*Y V*S

SPYvs
SPY

Producer: Beyond

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £9.95
Language: machine code
Author: Tag and the Kid

At long last the Speccy version
of this much loved CBM game
has mysteriously materialised
on my desk. Spy v Spy is a game
based around the antics of that
crazy duo from the esteemed
pages of MAO magazine. The
two spies, one black and one
white, constantly battle for
supremacy in the cut-throat
world of espionage and general
skulduggery. The game intro-
duces two new concepts: Simuf-
pfay , which is a facility that
allows two players to play the
game together, each of them
controlling one of tire two spies;
and Simufvision which Is a little
more novel, rf the two spies are
in separate rooms then the two
rooms are shown on the screen,
one above the other. However, if
the spies are both in the same
room, then only one room is dis-
played. Without this facility you
would never know what the
opposition was up to, and that
could be very unhealthy!

The basic theme of the game
is very simple. If you play
against the computer, you play
the white spy. You and the guy
in the black mac are located in a
building near an airfield, and the
object of the game is to get out
of the building and reach the
plane waiting on the runway.
You won't he able to leave the
building until you find the cor-
rect door and you can't go
through the door unless you are
carrying four objects — if you try
the security guards will get very
nasty. Since you can only carry
one object at a time you need to
find a briefcase, which is also
hidden.

Searching a room simply in-
volves looking behind each of
the fixtures and fittings; if an
object is behind something then
it wi 1 1 be added to y ou r i n ve nto ry
when you look there. Finding the
articles is one thing, keeping
them is something very differ-
ent Your enemy also wants to
escape and is equally desperate
to acquire the means to do so,
and the hunt is complicated by
the fact that the spies can set
traps for one another.

If the two spies are in the same
room then you are unable to

24 CRASH August 1985

search or use traps, in which
case you can either indulge in
hand to hand combat with your
opponent or leave. The advant-
age of the former course of act-
ion is that if you win you will be
able to recover the other guys
inventory, but of course you
might lose. . . . This is where the
game has a fairly strong strat-
egic element. If, for example,
you had failed to find any of the
objects you could wait while the
other chap does ail of the graft
and then ambush him — it could
pay off.

To master the game you wilt
have to learn how best to deal
with your enemy. A tittle device
called the Trapulator' is display-
ed on the side of each screen,
which bears six little pictures,
the first five of which are booby
traps. Via the trapu later, you can
use a bomb, a large spring, a
bucket of water, a gun and string
or a plain old time bomb with a
15 second fuse. The sixth 'icon'
is a map which helps you find
the objects you are searching for
and must find in order to escape.

The traps must be set accord-
ing to their type* The gun and
string, for example, can only be
tied to a door, while the spring or
bomb can be left under any
piece of furniture. All of the
traps, except the time bomb,
have remedies. A fire bucket will
douse the fuse of a bomb while a
pair of scissors wilt get you past
the gun and string. The remed-
ies are located about the build-
ing but they can also be moved
around by picking them up and
and dropping them in a different
location, A good trap layer will
make sure the appropriate
remedy is not to hand when a
trap is set. One important point

to remember as you dash about
setting traps: remember where
you put them t

If you are playing against the
computer, you can reset its
'intelligence' at the start of each
game. A rating of five for the
computer means the black spy is
going to be pretty smart and
probably set a lot of traps — on
IQ one you are dealing with a
dumb thug. And the environ-
ment in which the game is play-
ed can also be changed at the
start of each game. The size of
the building can be pre-set, with
the smallest having only six
rooms while the largest has
thirty six rooms and a lot of hid-
den passageways to boot.
Points are scored for giving the
other spy a hard time eg. killing
him. How many points rather
depends on how you did it.
Points are deducted for using
the map as well as for being a
victim. If you do get killed,
though, you are going to lose a
great deal more than s few
points. First, unless the other
spy is a real gorilla, you will lose
the articles you have gathered
and secondly you will lose time
— that's very precious because
the plane only waits for so long.
You can still lose the game, even
as you make for the exit, if the
plane leaves without you.

CRITICISM

• 'I can't remember when I've
had so much fun playing a
game. I think the immediate
appeal of Spy vs Spy is that it is
pretty easy to understand. Once
you have learnt how to move,
search and lay traps and you are
off. There are so many degrees

of difficulty that the novice is in
with a very good chance of win-
ning, but without a hope unless
he is welt practised. The scope
for wierd and nasty tactics is
immense. Let there be no doubt
that bloke in the dark mac
brings out the worst in me . . .
it's as much as I can manage to
keep life in perspective when
playing against another person.

9' To be honest Spy v Spy was
one of my favourite games on
the CBM (well, no one's perfect)
and I wondered what the
conversion would be like know-
ing the Speccys attribute prob-
lems. But then again it was
being converted by Tag and the
Kid. the main display has been
produced in biack and white,
thus avoiding any problems but
this does not detract from the
overall feel of the game. The
unique split screen system
means that the game is instantly
playable and addictive because
there is terrific scope for games
either against the computer or a
friend. Spy v Spy is an excellent
game which offers a pleasant
change from all of those arcade
adventures and shoot 'em ups. '

• 'At first I found myself utterly
confused by what appeared to
be two separate events taking
place on the one screen. It's very
important to keep an eye on the
other spy but it's also very diffic-
ult- The idea of setting an IQ
level for the enemy is great since
this allows you to play against a
pretty thick opponent and work
your way up to something a bit
smarter than your average KGB
goon. At first i thought the best
tactic was simply to dash around

I

the building setting traps and
then picking up the pieces but as
the building gets larger I tended
to run into my own traps so I had
rethink my policy a little, A very
absorbing and highly addictive
game/

COMMENTS

Control keys: player 1 —
definable; player 2 — N/M left/
right, Q/S up/down, 1 to fire
Joystick: notKempston

Keyboard play: responsive, a

little complicated with two

players

Use of colour: colour would

have meant less detail in the

main displays

Graphics: very good, very close

to the original

Sound: aiding bleeps end

bashing noise for hand to hand

combat

Skill levels: 5 JQ ratings, times

eight buildings gives forty levels

ofplay

Lives: infinite within given time

Screens: depends on level

General rating: an exciting and

demanding game, should last

for yonks

Use of computer: 96%

Graphics: 92%

Playabitity: 93%

Getting started: 89%

Addictive qualities: 93%

Va lue for money : 87 %

Overall: 93%

H-Y*P*E«R S*P*0*R«T*

HYPER
SPORTS

Producer; Imagine
Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £7.95
Language: machine code

Imagine continue their come-
back with what could be eslied
the real follow-up to Dafey
Thompson's Decathlon. Hyper

Sports is the official Spectrum
version of Konami's arcade
game which followed in the
footsteps of the highly original
Hyper Olympics (or track and
Field as the Taftei/Konamt vers-
ion was called).

To Track and Field fanatics
this scenario will seem very sim-
ilar, but don't worry 1 Hyper
Sports isn't just a test of brute
strength like its predecessor, but
involves timing and skill too.
Each event has a qualifying
time, distance or target, and to
go onto the next event you have
to Qualify in the preceding one
— failure to do so resutts m the
termination of your game. There
are six of the original events;
swimming, skeet shooting,
horse vaulting, archery, triple
jump and weight lifting.

When you start a game you
are given the familiar letter'stsr'
and you use this to enter your
initials. Once youVe rdentrfied
yourself, you move onto the
events, which commence with
swimming. Smash the keyboard
(or your joystick) to bits to get
andf when given the

prompt, press the jump button
to Jet your man breathe. If you
don't he'll slow down, and if you
press breathe at the wrong time
your man will cough and splut-
ter and REALLY slow down.

The swimming is reasonably
simple and so is the next event,
the skeet (or clay pigeon) shoot-
ing. Your man stands at the bot-
tom of the screen with a shotgun
while two boxes move up and
down the screen, acting as
sights. Shoot as many of the
skeets that fly over by pressing
either the left or right key as one
passes through the correspond-
ing sight. If you time your shot
correctly then you hit the skeet
You have three separate
attempts to Qualify, and when
you're successful your man
turns, winks and gives you a big
grin!

Next, into the gym and onto
(or over) the wooden horse.
Your man automatically runs up
to the horse but you must time
his jump onto the springboard
correctly, using the jump button,
for him to vault. Too soon and
you won't get much of a jump;

too late and he will trip up. Time
the jump correctly and he will be
launchedthrough the air, to land
hands first on the horse. When
his body is horizontal press fire
again and hit the speed burtons
as fast as you can to make him
somersault. Time the somer-
sault so he lands on his feet
otherwise he'll cartwheel along
the floor or bounce on his head,
both of which lose points.

After this comes the archery
— one of the most difficult of the
events. Pressing fire determines
wind speed and then a target is
winched down the screen which
you have to hit. To do this allow
for wind speed and let go of the
arrow by pressing the jump
button. Make sure your angle is
as near to five degrees as poss-
ible and if you have timed right
you will get a bollseye (worth
400 points).

Onto the triple jump now and
it's all hands on the speed
buttons. Zoom up to the line and
press the jump button, trying to
get as near to 45 degrees as
possible. Repeat twice for the
step and the jump and then wait

CRASH August 1985 25

H.Y*P*E«R S*P-0»R»T«S

for the measuring. After three
jumps you can progress to the
final and the most strenuous
round, the weight lifting.

This is a pound -you r-
Speetru m-keyboard-th roug h-
the-floor screen. First select the
weight you want to tackle then
it's off on a merry pound that'll
bring tears to your eyes and
quite possibly a nasty mess
oozing from your Spectrum.
Once you start the weightlifting

you have to pound away until
your man lifts the weight to his
chest. When he has done this
press jump to snatch' the
weights and pummel away at
the keyboard to keep them
above his head. Once that is
over you can go to hospital to
get" an organ transplant and
come back to start the series of
events again, onfy this time it's a
tot harder with alt the qualifying
times upped.

CRITICISM

• 'A superb arcade clone with
Imagine getting as close to the
original as possible within the
limits of the Spectrum. All the
events represented here are
very dose to the original, as fans
of the game will find out when
they try out their arcade tactics.
The graphics are excellent with
few attribute problems and the

colours are well used with nice
use of normal and bright. The
man is excellently animated as
he swims, jumps, and shoots his
way through the events. Sound
is excellent too, with all the fam-
iliar noises of the arcade game
whiGh are superbly reproduced.
The game itself is very addictive
and as strength draining as
Daley's, but this time your
reflexes and timing are tested
too, giving welcome breaks
between bouts of keyboard
destruction. A brilliant follow-up
to World Series Baseball and
one which shows that Imagine
are well on their way back to the
top.

• 'It's nice to see the name
Imagine associated with good
games again. Hyper Olympic the
arcade hit, has now been Spec-
trumised. This version follows
the original really closely, even
down to the bird which flies
across the screen when you get
a maximum on the sheet shoot-
ing. Also like the real thing, the
game is no piece of cake either.
It's really frustrating having to
go back to the start if the odd
arrow is a couple of points of a
degree out Never mind, great
game, just like the original.

• ' Being a lover of sports simul-
ations, 1 was very pleased to
hear that this great game was to
be converted to the Spectrum,
but I had doubts about what the
quality would be like. I'm
pleased to announce that this
conversion is excellent. The
graphics, of course, aren't as
good as those seen in the arcade
game, but with that said they are
still pretty good. Hyper Sports is
instantly playable due to its
simple game style and it is quite
addictive, as was DTD. There
might not be as many events,
but it is definitely a more slick
and polished program. If you
want a true-to-the-arcade-game
copy, then this is the one to get.
Another winner from Imagine!

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable

Joystick: any

Keyboard play: very responsive

Use of colour: brilliant, with nice

landscapes.

Graphics; smooth, detailed, well

animated with nice scrolling.

Sound: excellent applause,

tunes and effects.

Skill levels; as you progress

qualifying targets get smaller.

Lives: 1

Screens: 6 events.

General rating: excellent arcade

conversion, one of the best yet.

Use of Computer

Graphics

Pfayability 93%

Getting Started 37%

Addictive Qualities 96%

Value for Money 86%

Overall 92%

26 CRASH August 1985

FREEPOST. Bath BA2 4TD. Tel: 0225 316924

New Generation products are
sold according to their terms
of trade and conditions of sale.

meanie MD of Ne w ^

SMttSSSJl- not an easy
°" T e here , was snooring after a

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tah?« tt>e ,a "neff n? a ^° celeb-

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get

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from

28 CRASH August 1985

l:R RUNNING WEAR

J?=£52iJ3

antftlown*ehrthana

surround *"'*. "*!Ttake to 09-
and I could alrnost a ue 1 *j_

9*9 KtsTfound the Monty

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Gremlin!

CRASH August 1985 29

FROM
CAVEMEN

ROCKY
HORRORS

Writing about the longer established software
houses always brings our own short history
to mind. I can very clearly remember sitting
down with a list of games drawn up by Franco
Frey to decide which we should order for the
first CRASH MICRO GAMES ACTION mail
order catalogue. One of the games quite high
on the list was 3D DESERT PATROL by
Computer Rentals Limited. The company has
become better known simply as CRL.

CRL's list of software releases is
impressive, their chart suc-
cesses less so, but as a producer
of games they have strenuously
avoided a 'house style' and kept
a low profile, which means that
it's easy to forget the quantity of
releases and the ones that were
very good. Just look at the mix-
ture; there was the 3D Omega
Run, the terrible pair of releases
Caveman and Lunar Lander, the
attractive under water Gtug
Gtug, the TV tie-ins Terra hawks
and Magic Roundabout, the
musical tie-tn War of the Worlds,
the driving tie-in Highway Code
as well as some of their most
successful early programs, the
sports simulations like Test
Match, Derby Day and my
favourite among the golf prog-
rams, Handicap Gotf. CRL was
also the first out with an Olym-
pics tie-in last year, modestly
named Olympics, It wasn't one
of the best by any means, some-
thing tacitly admitted by Clem-

ent Chambers when he says
with some surprise that people
still ring in asking for help on it!
CRL was founded by Clement
Chambers, a yourrg man who
received a fair bit of media atten-
tion in the early days of the
computer boom for being a
teenage whizzkid. Perhaps the
unusual photographs helped —
'I usually have me finger stuck
up me nose when I'm photo-
graphed,' he said, but his easy-
stream -of conscious style of
talking made good copy — it still
does! He's no longer a teenager,
but at 21 must count among the
youngest in the ranks of busin-
ess moguls who run Public
Limited Companies. He is the
first to tell you that CRL was able
to go public because in the early
eighties it was a simple matter to
make a lot of money from selling
computer games. Those days
are over, and any software
house now has to watch the
pence per unit margins with

extreme care.

The Chambers public image is
one of attractive, slightly remote
superiority, but it breaks down
quickly enough in the office,
especially when he tells you
with some pride that for two
years running he has won the
Quick Byte Award for 'The
Person Most Renowned in
Computer Knowledge'. The byte
in the tail being that these
awards mean the opposite of
what they say! Tongue firmly
fixed in cheek, be describes him-
self officially as Managing Direc-
tor and assistant programmer,
which is to say he tests the joy-
sticks each morning.

Recently, CRL has joined
forces with another of the older
software houses — Silversoft,
It's a purposefully mysterious
alliance, end when I asked about
it Clement, who was sitting
cross-legged on the office floor,
sat upright, hummed for a
moment and then in a 'press
release' voice announced, 'You
can describe us as Affiliated
Companies and we wish we
were half owned by US Gold

CRL House sounds impressive
enough. Actually it is rather like
a house, set apart from the other
business premises in the East
London industrial complex
between Hackney, Bow and
Stratford. Kings Yard is a quiet
enclave in th»s vast area, sur-
rounded by high walls and pro-
tected on one side by a canal.
The two-storey CRL building
houses the administrative
offices of the company as well as
the software development 3nd
programming areas.

On the morning of the day I
arrived, Clement was fast asleep
on the sofa in his office. There
had been a burglary somewhere
which had done something to
the alarm system, so he had
slept in the office as they had
just taken delivery of a vast
quantity of Rocky Horror Shows
which were going on to Ger-
many that day. Still rubbing
sleep from his eyes, Clement led
me upstairs to lar» Ellery's office.
Ian is CRL's Software Develop-
ment Manager, 'The man who
released CavemanV Clement
whispered in my ear as we went
through the door.

Unlike his boss, 23 year-old
tan Ellery looked very awake,
and confessed to m© that he
hadn't had any desire to sleep
until Rocky Horror Show was
safely released and on its way.
As we sat down the phone rang
with a call from someone who
had just completed Rocky
Horror and wanted to say how
good it was. Ian asked me to take
the phone and speak to him. 'It's
brilliant! ' said the young voice at
the other end, 'ft should be a
CRASH SMASH!' The caller was
13 year old Stephen Day.

'It's nice to get calls like that,'
Ian told me. 'I get really nervous
before a game comes out, and
then — phew, it finally gets into
the shops.'

Clement coughed and unkind-
ly said, 'He thought he might
have released Caveman 2V

Moments later the phone rang
again with an Andrew Murphy
to speak to Roger Kean. It was
Stephen Day's friend ringing to
say that if Stephen got a
mention, so must he, because
they completed the game
together.

To many people, Ian Elfery
might be better known when
he s wearing another hat, that of
computer artist, author of many
drawings and cartoons in
various magazines, notably
C&S/G, Ian produced all the
photo-drawing montages on
these pages. He also designs a
number of CRL's cassette inlays,
and it is his artist's eye that
keeps a careful watch on the
games' graphics as they
develop. He's an outspoken sort
of guy, and managed to startle
Clement momentarily out of his
post-burglary lethargy by telling
me that he doesn't like Oliver
Frey's artwork in CRASH. 'That's
how you go round making
friends and influencing people/
Clement told him sharply.

CRL has an in-house program-
ming team who work on Spec-
trum, Commodore and Amstrad
games. There's Jay Derret <17),
graphics designer and program-
mer, Andy Stoddart (201, Ian
Foster (17/ who works on both
the Spectrum and the Commo-
dore, and Jeff Lee (18), who did
Rocky Horror Show, although
Jeff is giving up programming

30 CRASH August 1985

n

to become a photographer {he
took the photos for this article).
Richard Taylor, who did CflL's
famous Hi Res program (and
Rocky Honor on the Amstrad),
works with CRL but not as an
in-house programmer.

Every company has to have its
administrative back-up, which at
CRL comes in the shape of
Yvonne Walters. Guy Spooner,
stock boss Tim Vernon and
Clement's personal assistant
Belinda Carling.

Belinda accompanied Clem-
ent, Ian, Andre Posumentov
(Silversoft) and myself to a
nearby Italian restaurant where,
between discussions of whether
the live lobster, split down the
middle and grilled' would act-
ually scream when it was split
down the middle, Clement went
into a stream-of-consciousness
about the software industry and
Ian EUery told me about CRL's
plans for future releases.

A lot of the programs in prep-
aration are being worked up on
the CBM 64 with Spectrum con-
versions being done on some of
them. One of them, Skyship
6000 (it's a working title) is
planned only tor the 64, but look-
ing at the story board graphics
{not unlike the 3D effect achiev-
ed by Vortex in TIL and Cyclone)
I thought it would convert to the
Spectrum rather well. It's a
simulation based on the new
British air ship and involves the
player in ferrying goods and
people between islands set in a
rough and dangerous sea, while
rescuing stranded sailors from
their sinking ships. Another
CBM only game which is on the
'semi-secret' list, so I won't say
much about it, is Blade Runner,
The kind of graphics involved
look like the sort that might not
travel onto the Spectrum too
well, but we'll see. it's a 3D
graphic adventure shoot em up,
where you play Rick Deckard as
he chases Nexus 6 Replicants
through the untidy streets as
they seek out the scientist who
created them. One game that
will definitely appear on the
Spectrum is Space Doubt. The
action takes place on a huge
spaceship with animated back-
grounds, and it has an unusual
way of presenting the 3D. It's as
though the ship had been
chopped through in the middle
so that each room you enter is
seen like a stage set. Walking off
'the front' switches you into the
other half of the room. There are
null gravity lifts and room doors
that slide up and down, but as
most of the ship's workings
have been badly affected by a
space storm, their working is
very erratic. The object (not
unlrke Silversoft's Worse Things
Happen at Sea) is to get the ship
and cargo safely to its destin-
ation against all odds, which
include plenty of nasties as well
as external influences. Through
the various window ports the
stars can be seen in movement,
which tells you which way you
are going as well as giving an

"Beu^I>A cAftutiCt

FROM
CAVEMEN

ROCKY
HORRORS

indication of your orientation on
the vessel.

These games are intended for
release along with other 'secret'
projects in the pre-Christmas
run up, and what with the in-
house team hard at work and
some licence deals being set up,
CRL look like continuing their
spate of releases for some time
to come.

Not having heard any squeals
from the kitchen, everyone set-
tled down to their 'live lobster'
with relish, much to the relief of
the waiter who had already sup-

plied Clement with a year's
supply of Italian bread sticks to
keep him going until the main
course arrived- Under cover of
the gunshot noises of cracking
lobster claws, tan Ellery asked
for an art job on CRASH and
Clement proved that big ears are
what get you to the top. Still, I
accepted fan's offer to provide
the illustrations for this piece,
and after lunch everyone went
back to the perennial worry of
'what next?' and ! headed west
for Ludlow,

CRASH August 1985

RED MOONMoonQuest
adventure for most mfcl
Moon Crystal of xJ^M^pTfed

good magik for the hormst rulers
of the kingdom of Baskafos,
Then it was stolen and the land
feu into chaos, You must recover
the Moon Crystal from the
maglk-rich castle where it is
hidden, armed only with your
wits and spells.

RED MOONt. is a Level 9

adventure with over 200
locations. Amstrad, BBC,
Commodore 64, MSX and
Spectrum versions have 150+
pictures,

RED MOON is avallabie now on
cassette at £6.95. It joins Levef
9s catalogue of acclaimed
adventures for

AMSTRAD cpc464

ATARI 48k

BBC 32k

COMMODORE 64

ENTERPRISE 64

MEMOTECH 500/512

MSX 64k

SPECTRUM 48k

Here's what some reviewers
have recently said about Level 9,

"the series of adventures which
has (since) flowed from Level 9
is renowned for high standards
of plot and [iterate description",
-Sinclair User, May 1985

"ill be kept more than busy by
the absorbing Level 9
adventures".

-MSX User, June 1985

"If only more adventure houses
could achieve Level 9".

-Crash, May 1985

So don't forget our other great
adventures:

COLOSSAL ADVENTURE*?
(cass £9.95) The classic
mainframe game with 70 bonus
rooms.

ADVENTURE QUEST*t (cass
£9.95 ) " A bh H i a nt ad ventu re that
confirms Level 9 r s place as the
ultimate adventure software
house" -Computing with the
Amstrad. May 1985.
DUNGEON ADVENTURE*!
(cass £9,95) "A wonderful
adventure.. a world where
electric ty bills and mortgages
have no pface" -MSX Computi ng,
June 1985

LORDS OF TlME*t (cas$£9M)
An imaginative romp through
world history.

SNOWBALL* 1 (cass £9.95)
immense science fiction game
with 7000+ locations.
RETURN TO EDEN** (cass
£9.95) Popular SF adventure.
Amstrad, CBM64, MSX and
Spectrum versions have 240
pictures.

EMERALD ISLE $ (cass £6.95)
Fantasy adventure. Amstrad,
BBC. CBM64. MSX and
Spectrum versions have 230
pictures.

ERIK THE V1KINQ (cass £9.95)
Game of Terry Jones' book for
Amstrad, BBC, CBM64 and
Spectrum only. All with 180+
pictures.

Level 9 adventures are available
from ail good computer shops. If
you can't find the game you

want pfeaseask them to order it

You can also buy games directly
from us, Just send us a cheque
made payable to Level 9
Computing, or a postal order.
Don't forget to tell us your
address, which computer you
have and which game you'd like.
{Add £1 for each Item if outside
the UK.)

If you would just like a FREE
FULL COLOUR POSTER, with
more details of Level 9

Adventures on the back, please
write to us enclosing a stamped,
self addressed envelope at least
9" by 6". Write 'POSTER' above
our address.

Please write to

LEVEL 9 COMPUTING

P.O. Box 39

Weston -s uper-Ma re

Avon BS24 9UR

B8G (Acornsoft df S ),'CBM64 disk versions are now .available for those jjames marked * at £11.95 new or £2.50 upgrade (pfease return your anginal cassette)
l-Texi adveniure on a» e micros. +. Selected versions have pictures in addition to text

r «k

F«R«A«N«K«I«E G«0'E«S

FRANKIE
GOES TO
HOLLY-

tif/t

^

^

Producer: Ocean

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £9.95
Language: machine code
Author: Denton Designs

FrankiB Goes to Hollywood was
previewed at length in the June
rssue of CRASH {otherwise
known as 17). A great deal was
written about this game so a
brief introduction should
suffice.

It's not really fair to talk about
targets or objectives in relation
to Frankte Goes to Hollywood
but at the end of the day your
ultimate desire should be to
reach the Pleasuredome. That's
going to be a problem because
at the start of the game you play
a dull and drab character, one of
the great unwashed who leads a
life that is special only because it
is so drab. However, this dreary
lifestyle is shattered by the dis-
covery of a murder.

Perhaps this single event can
B beginning of the re-awak-
ening, an event so horrible thai
only a J real r person would want
to discover why? and who? To
be a 'real' person (only real pers-
onages are allowed into the
Pleasuredome) you must prove
your worth by malting the most
of the opportunities presented
to you in your drab world of ter-
raced houses and Radio One
disc jockeys. But the terraced
houses of today are filled with
elements of the electro-magical
world, televisions, computers
and, of course The occasional-
murder. Within the drab ordin-
ary houses you are offefed the
means to escape to ma/Pleas-
uretic;

TRFQughout the gatWEJMOti
conwol a character (not Frankie,
he has already been to the Pleas-
u readm e) whtch can be made to
walk through doorways and so
into houses and rooms, and can
also be made to reach out and

uch objects. This reaching
iction is later extended in some
of the games to a firing action. At
most times the player is able to
call up an inventory of the Items
collected so that they may be
used if the situation demands. A

34 CRASH August 1985

ah

bottle of milk can be collected
and later given to a cat for
instance; a key can be kept in the
same way. The inventory is dis
played on a sub — screen, which
opens out rather like the iris of
your eye to reveal a window in
the main screen; a hand within
the window can be moved about
until it is positioned over the
object required.

Whenever you do something
tremendous, I ike feeding the cat,
another window will open onto
the screen giving Fran trie's latest
opinion on your performance in
the form of .pleasure points and
an indication as to how how
>f b 'reaS r person you have
•is.

While you explore the houses
you must touetr the objects
within. The touching action can
open everyday items like chests
fridges ana cupboards. Inside a
fridge you may find a kipper or a
floppy disc, these objects can be
added to your inventory for
future use but the number of
items that can be carried is
limited. You may find yourself
forced to choose what to keep
and what to get rid of. By touch-
ing other objects like a television
or phone, you can sometimes
open a doorway onto another
level, when another type of
'window' opens on the main
screen. If you decide to accept
the challenge then move the
character into the sub-screen,
and it will expand to fill the
whole screen end your character

will be in a new location.

There are a number of mirw-
games incorporated into the
main one, which are of a pretty
simple format and are accessed
by stepping into them. You may
only have to bounce a pleasure
pill through a tiny hofe, or con-
trol Reagan while he spits at
Andropov c%er a breskgut-type
wall. One gan^etakesiheform of
jigsaw »uz2te; another
jjlou tobolve ^complex
^c^. another sub game
requires you defend Liverpool
by shooting German bombers
as they fly over Mefiseyside.

For some sub-oajftes you will
need to have acquired objects,
and in ffiat sense there is a very
strong adventure element.
Pleasure points are awarded if
you do well in the mini games,
out if you lose or even decline to
play at all by not walking into a
windowed game let, then your
pleasure rating will take a
tumble. Failing to complete an
element of the main game does
not spell the end. This is a per-
petual game — you will always
get another chance because
although you may have activ-
ated all of the 'events' in one
room, sooner or later you will be
able to go back and activate
another, perhaps different
event. The only problem that
you will have to be wary of is
using an object in an inappropr-
iate place — if you do, you lose it
and it may be some time before
you will be able to replace it.

The game has many subtle
features that can be easily
missed. Associating the bottle of
milk and the cat is one of the
more obvious means of scoring
some extra pleasure points. The
intention of the player must be
the achieve enough personality
points to get to the Pleasure-
dome; only by doing 'good',
playing and winning the games
against evil and by solving the
puzzles can you hope to qualify.
Apart from the frequent reports
from Frankie you can keep a
check on your performance by
looking at the four — bar graph
on the side of the screen which
shows how much of the pleas-
ure equation you have managed
to fulfill.

The game comes complete
with an audio cassette which
incorporates a new idea called
Datatune. The player loads the
game and then plays the audio
cassette which will have music
and a voice over describing how
the game is played. Other music,
a lot of it previously unpu blished
is included on the B' side.

CRITICISM

• 'At iast r the long awaited
Frankte game has arrived and it
has been worth the wait Even
though it so happened my copy
had little in the way of instruc-
tions I found the game pretty
easy to get into; it is a very play-
able game. The graphics are, as

we have come to expect from
Denton Designs, very good with
plenty of attention paid to detail.
I especially liked the room with
Reagan and Andropov spitting
at each other. The sound is limit-
ed to spot effects and a neat
version of 'Two Tribes' before
the game starts. Frankie looks
set to be one of the best games
this year with plenty of games
and puzzles within the main
game. I think it's immense fun to
play and very addictive — a sure
winner,'

• 'When I first loaded the game I
was a little disappointed. The
actual screen area is pretty smalf
for the opening scenes of the
game and the main character
clashes a great deal with the
background. However, after
only a short time at the keyboard
I grew to love the mystery of it
all. i must confess to being any-
thing but a Frankie fan even
though some of the music
appeafs. I thought /would have a
hard time understanding the
game. Well I did, not because I
don't understand the music it's
simply that the game is very
deep. What appears, at first
sight, to be iust a graphically
neat game has a great deal
under the skin and t am looking

forward to being able to spend
more time playing it Great '

t'Fun doesn't begin to describe
this experience. The initial
impression is quickly bolstered
by the seemingly never ending
stream of new events, i have had
the benefit of playing the game
without the full instructions, ft
took ages to get an understand-
ing of even the most elementary
parts of the game but I don't
resent a moment The fun I have
had fust exploring it and enjoy-
ing the surprises that a re waiting
round every TV set! I understand
that the game is to come with

verbal instructions on tape, my
advice is to throw it away fwel I at
least don't put it on , JUST
RELAX AND DO (T.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable

Joystick: any

Keyboard play: probably better

than using a joystick

Use of colour: excellent once

you accept the attribute

problems

Graphics: very imaginative,,

excellent

Sound: limited but nice opening

tune

Skill levels: one
Lives: no limit
Screens: over 124 mind-
boggling locations
General rating: this is a highly
innovative arcade/adventure
that you must not be without

Use of computer 93%

Graphics 94%

Payability 93%

Getting started 95%

Addictive qualities 94%

Value for money 94%

Overall 94%

CRASH August 1985

'€?<•>

THE EASIEST
WAY

BUYING
SPECTRUM
SOFTWARE
YOU WILL
FIND!

IJw'^TITifiltlnllliKiTilfiTi tM «V4 l*Y7M$ 1 il« BkM 1 T« I

it off. We still offer a FREE POST ordering service,
but please remember that it can take three to four

^ — — _

post. If you would prefer a speedier delivery th
we recommend you use a stamp. Orders
received with a first class stamp will be
despatched within 14 hours by first class post.

ANY OF THE SOFTWARE
REVIEWED IN THIS ISSUE* OF

CRASH MAGAZINE MAY BE

ORDERED BY MAIL USING THE

FORM BELOW.

CRASH MICRO GAMES ACTION ORDER FORM

Telephone Ludlow (CSB4) 5&20.
'lease send me the following creles: Block capitals please 1 . subscribers- wo«id«tey -pi serine your code nu«i»ri

Ml pftces arc as quoted under nvitw
h!.-?-d ngi and include VAT. Crash Micro
Games Action make no charge for postage
and packaging- Customers in Europe
should add 50p per item for. post and
packing. Outside Europe, please write first
so that we may advice on postage rates.

Pl«se make cheques or
postal orders payable to
'CRASH MICRO . From
Europe we can accept
Sterling cheques or
Girocheques.

Sub Total: £

Less Discount £

Total Enclosed £

Name

1 Subscriber No

if applicable

SPECIAL DISCOUNTS
£1

50R

OFF ANY ORDER WORTH

MORE THAN

OFF ANV QR0F.RWORT*
MORE THAN £1C

Sorry- only ONE voucher per order f

CRASH MICRO, FREEPOST (no stamp required), LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE

ADVERTISEMENT

PAWS

Producer: Attic
Memory required; 48K
Retail price: £6,95
Language: machine code
Author: various

Before you jump up and down in
fits of excitement proclaiming
that this game was reviewed
months ago, in another Spec-
trum mag (which, for the sake of
your health at least, you should
not be reading) we should point
out that the other mag is better
known for being rash at the
expense of accuracy. CRASH at
least decided to wait until Artie
had settled on a name for the
game.

Paws is about a poor little cat
called Selwyn who is being
harrassed by Bull Dog Billy and
his gang of Bully dogs. Up until
now, nasty old Billy has never
managed to rid his patch of
Selwyn because the cat and kit-
tens were protected by cato-
pfexic energy, a force generated
by them as a whole. Well,
imagine Selwyn' $ surprise
when he returns home to find
that the kittens have strayed.
'Oh this is awful', cries Selwyn,
'without the kittens we are no
longer protected from the dogs
and when they get to hearof this
they will be after me again'. Well
it goes without saving that Billy
hears the news and barks an
order to one of his lackies,
'Gruff', says he, 'round up the
boys and we can get rid of those
cats forever'.

Your task is to guide Selwyn
round the maze of city streets,
the suburbs and refuse tips, col-
lecting the kittens one by one
and returning them to the
h a ven . As y ou wander t he 1 onely
paths you are bound to come
across the dogs. You can attack
by firing fur balls at them, or
even paralyse them for a while
by depositing a noxious subs-
tance in their path. If you do get
caught by a dog them a paw-to-

Furballin mid-flight, Tibbies fights back in PAWS.

The map screen from PAWS, showing where you are, whore
you should fog and the route you need — it's up to you to get
there, past the marauding doggies.

s/S/

paw fight will follow and that
will cost you a great deal of
energy. Your stamina, needed
for the fur balls, and energy can
be built up by eating different
objects as you make you way
around the maze, but the more
you travel the maze the rarer the
food becomes. With ten kittens
to recover you face a race
against time: soon the dogs will
form a pack, and then watch the
doggies get the moggies.

To help you with your task the
game provides a map of the
maze giving the locations of the
kittens, the dogs, home and of
course Selwyn, Underneath the
main screen your score and high
score are displayed, together
with the levels of stamina,
energy and the number of lives
remaining. You lose a life when
you run out of energy and if you
are carrying a kitten you will lose
that as well. The last figure on
the screen gives the 'K9 r level,
this is a measure of pack form-
ation and is, in effect, the time
period in which you must collect
the kittens. The five different
skill settings simply give five
different pack gathering rates.

CRITICISM

• 'It's no use pretending any-
thing else, Artie wanted to call
this game 'Cats' and base the
scenario around the stage play.
It used to have great music but
even ignoring that it seems to
have lost a lot more besides. It's
a graphically pleasing, well
animated, race-against-time
maze game, and not a bad one at
that'

• 'A pretty straightforward idea
this. The graphics are nice, de-
tailed and colourful. The map
adds a great deal to the game
and the dogs are a constant
menace. To win you really have
got to get your skates on to col-
lect afl ten kittens hefore the dog
pack forms. The food idea
seems a little banal at first until
you realise that by racing round

we

GOONieS

THE Computer Game.

Dab|joft

CRASH August 1985 37

ttiegh

Seeing afffido, *fie action packed cat zooms down a High
Street in PAWS

the maze the supply runs a tittle
thin. Good fun,'

• 'Paws has Sabre Wulf-like
graphics, bright colourful and
well detailed. Playing the game
seems quite easy and doesn't
pose any real challenge once
you've mastered the different
aspects of the game. With the
useful map provided on screen
at any time life isn't too difficult
when it come to finding your
way around the large maze. I like
the idea of the maze taking place
in different zones, which are
indicated on the map by differ-
ent colours. Quite novel really.
Your weapons are different to
say the least— you can zap the
dogs that are after you, or lay
them off your trail be depositing
a pile of . . . well, it's a pile of
something or other! Quite an
enjoyable game, but I think the
effect of rt will wear off after sev-
eral hours of playing.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, 0/

P left/right, bottom row to fire

Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair

and cursor

Keyboard play: fine

Use of colour: very good

Graphics: pleasingly detailed

Sound: a little garish

Skill levels: five

Lives: nine (of course) Screens:

over 150

General rating: an attractive and

mildly challenging game

Use of computer
Graphics
Getting started
Addictive qualities
Value for money
Overall

73%
75%
74%
77%
71%
78%

CHARLIE AND
THE CHOCOLATE

FACTORY

Producer: Hill

MacGibbon

Memory required: 48K

Retail price: £9.95

Language: basic and

machine code

Author: Soft Option Ltd

The five games included in this
package are loosely based on
Roald Dehl's best selling child-
ren's book of the same name.
The literate among you may well
remember the story that went
something along these lines . . .
The owner of the local chocolate
factory was getting near his time
and wanted to find a successor

38 CRASH August 1985

and gluttony. Charlie, being a
kind-hearted sort, has taken on
the challenge of rescuing his
foolish companions.

The game on side A' is divid-
ed up into four parts. Each one is
a single screen arcade game
relating to the events surround-
ing the demise of Charlie's four
companions. Augustus Gloop is
trapped inside a . network of
pipes and you must guide him to
the bottle by closing off sections
of the pipe. Violet Beauregarde
is*having a bad time with a load
of blueberries. The berries are
raining down from above and
you must deflect them into the
juicing machine. Only when the
vat is full will she be safe. Veruca
Salt has upset the squirrels and
they are after her blood. The
only way she can avoid being
caught is to poison them all by
placing poison nuts in their path.
Careful though, the poison only
has a very short life. Meanwhile
Mike Teavee, the nurd, is trying
to pinch all of the Wonka bars off
each of the five platforms in the
warehouse. Not in itself difficult,
except that the cameras are after
him firing their lethal shrinking
ray. Being able to hop on the

to take over the factory. He sent
out five little coupons inside 5
bars of chocolate and then told
the world. Well, everybody went
bananas and started buying lots
of chocolate,, everybody except
Charlie because his family could
only afford one bar. Anyway, to
cut a long story short, Charlie
got his voucher and went with
four others on what they
thought was just going to be a
day trip.

The five games each relate to
the five voucher winners,
Charlie, Augustus, Violet,
Veruca and Mise. All of you wilt
know that all of the others
perished (for a while) due to a
combination of nosiness, greed

inter-platform lifts may not be
enough to save this wally

The fifth game, which is load-
ed from the 'B' side, is the final
part of the story, if you are suc-
cessful in the first four games
you will be given a code which
allows you to play the main
game for real, otherwise you'll
be stuck with the practice mode.
Charlie's objective is to collect
the six gold keys which will
allow him into the glass lift. To
do this he must work his way
through 43 screens avoiding
being squashed by platforms,
sweets, marshmahows and the
like.

And they ail lived happily ever
after —

CRITICISM

# 'When I received my copy of
Charlie and the Chocolate Fac-
tory I thought that it might be
something a bit special. The
packaging was excellent, includ-
ing a tree book. But what a dis-
appointment! The graphics on
both sides of the tape are very
flicker/ and do not flow at all,
although the colour and sound

Killer Cameras chase the naughty parson, in a screen from
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. It's your job, as
the nice Charlie, to rescue the miscrmant.

_

brightened things up a f ittfe. The
keyboard selections were not
very good and, to make matters
worse, the game did not res-
pond well to keyboard play, I am
sorry that for £9.95 the games
did not do justice to the pack-
aging.'

• 'You might think that almost a
tenner for a game is quite a tot
Some people moan about Ulti-
mate's prices but they do
produce rather good games.
This package includes four
arcade games and a sort of
arcade adventure as we// as a
book. The arcade games are not
at all specie/. While the graphics
are reasonable the games are
not very playable. The graphics
in the adventure are OK but
again not inspired by any
means. The game itself is pretty
hard — perhaps too hard,
because I think if this game has
any appeal at all it must be to the
little ones. '

• ' I didn't like any of the games
presented in this package. The
standard of the graphics and the
sound is poor. The graphic
jerky and hard to follow. I found
it very hard to move the char-
acters in any of the games, prob-
ably because the keyboard
responded so badly. If I had to
pick one out of the games it

would be Augustus because it
was pretty original. A shame
that what looked like being good
value turned out so badly.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 6/7 left/ right, 8/9
up/down, to fire
Joystick : Kempston
Keyboard play: poor response
Use of colour: pretty tatty
Graphics: dated and slow
Sound: nice tunes
Skill levels: one, with practice
mode for the fifth game Lives:
between three and twelve
Screens: total of 47
General rating : a bit of a
disappointment

Use of computer
Graphics
Playabifity
Getting started
Addictive qualities
Value for money
Overall

58%
61%
58%
63%
52%
50%
63%

PIPELINE

Producer: CSM Ltd

Memory required: 48K
Retaif price: £6,95
Language: machine code
Author: Simon Flinch

This is in effect the Speccy vers-
ion of the original Commodore
pipeline game produced by
Taskset This conversion, prod-
uced with the co-operation of
Taskset, makes only two minor
changes to the original: instead
of the foreman firing bullets at
the foe he throws spanners; and
there are two more screens to
entertain you. The game also
comes with an improved vers-
ion of an old arcade favourite.
SOS is the game where you
have to guide a module down to
the planet surface to rescue the
folks and then return to the
mother ship. Both journeys
require you to dodge the
streams of space debris and the
laser blast from the nasties.

In this version of Pipeline you
control a foreman and one
workman. Your one and only
task is to make sure that the flow
of petrol to the barrel under-
neath the network of pipes is not
interrupted. The one little pest
who seems determined to make

sure the flow is stopped can be
seen running up the ladder onto
the gantry above you. From
above he will drop objects that
will damage the pipe so you
must either kill him by throwing
a spanner at him or simply dash
around the network, with work-
man in tow, so the damage can
be made good. Your task will be
made a great deal easier if you
bash the anarchist as often as
you can, but you are likely to be
distracted by the ladybird-look-
alike pipe bugs. These bugs also
use the ladder and once they are
above you can drop down onto
the pipe — you must knock them
off, because if they reach you it's
curtains for certain.

An impressive array of diffic-
ulties has been programmed
into the game. To begin with
there are eight different pipe
structures, each one more com-
plex than the one before. Three
skill settings allow you to select
how many attacks you are going
to suffer from either the anarch-
ist or the bugs. Finally you can
select how many lives you
would like to be allowed for each
game, any number between one
and eight. Select any but the
easiest pipe system and you are
going to be in for a nasty sur-
prise in the shape of a well
armoured and very persistent
lobster.

CRASH August 1985 39

A grinning workman and 9 grinning foreman in PIPELINE
CSM's official version of the Tashset Commodore gome.
Keep that fluid flowing Ftoyd . . .

CRITICISM

• 'Pipeline is quite an original

fame which has good graphics,
he pipe menders are rather
funny to look at but I suppose
the looks go with the job, Unless
you start throwing spanners at
the other man to begin with, you
Sand yourself with an almost
endless task, This is a pretty
good game. I enjoyed it,'

• '/have playeo 'Pipe' line a lot on

the CBM so I was pleased to see
it out for the Speccy. Initially I
was a little disappointed
because this version is a good
deai slower and so became
monotonous after a while. The
graphics are large, jolly and very
well drawn but the sound, as
usual, isn't very good — though
adequate. After about half an
hour I had managed to perfect a
simple routine to gel me
through most of the screens. To
start with I enjoyed this game a
lot but it does tend to get boring
after a while/

# 'Until I reviewed Super
Pipeline I had never seen a game
like this. This version could have
been a tot better with only a few
modifications, an increase in
speed for a start would have
gone some way to making it as
exciting as the Super Pipeline
game, 1 did find the repeating
cycle of pipe systems a bit too
much towards the end. However
having said that when you con-
sider the game on the 'B' side
which really is pretty good I
think the cassette is good value
for money.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: Z/X left/right,

K/M up/down, L to throw

Joystick: Kempston and

Interface II

Keyboard play: very good

Use of colour: not extravagant

but clear

Graphics: very neat

Sound: spot effects only

Skill levels: three

Lives: up to eight

Screens: eight

General rating: slightly above

average

Use of computer 74%

Graphics 74%

Payability 68%

Getting started 76%

Addictive qualities 63%

Value for money 75%

Overall 76%

ROCCO

Producer: Gremlin

Graphics

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £6,95
Language: machine code
Author: Dinamicand
Arm id

In the last issue of CRASH we
reviewed a boxing game from
Aliigata called Knockout. Well in
this issue we have two more,
Pocco (originally released under
the title Rocky), which owes its
origins to a team of Spanish
programmers, and Elite's Frank
Bruno's Boxing* There must be

40 CRASH August 1985

something of a trend underway.
The graphical presentation of
the fighters is very important in
this type of game. In Hocco you
view the action from a point
behind your fighter who
appears to be a good deal short-
er than your opponent. Both
figures are solid and shaded. As
a fighter, you have four basic
moves available: a left and right
head punch, and a left and right
block, Every time you land a
punch on your opponent you
can see his head reel with the
blow and his energy bar dimin-
ish a touch. A fighter is knocked
out when his energy bar reaches
zilch. The winner of a round is
the first boxer to drop his oppo-
nent thrice. Each time one of the
fighters is knocked out he will

get up again (unless it was his
third fall) and continue the fight
with a re-charged energy bar —
the other fighter continues with
his energy at the level it was
when he laid the other guy out.
!n effect, this means that a boxer
who has just been knocked out
has the advantage over his
opponent

Once you've won your first
round you'll have had a taste of
what is to follow, but to achieve
ultimate victory you must defeat
all four fighters. Each one is
harder to beat than the one be-
fore. At the start of each new
fight you are presented with a
picture and the weight of your
opponent displayed in a box
under his energy bar. The graph-
ical figure in the ring does not
change in appearance from fight
to fight When you lose against
any one of the fighters then the
game is over. No score is given,
so if you find you have a score to
settle, you must start from the
beginning.

CRITICISM

• 'Pocco is the second boxing
game I have seen this month.
Looking at this one in isolation I
think the graphics are very
appealing. However, I think it
lacks play ability not only be-
cause the opposing character

never changes, but also, on acc-
ount of the limited number of
moves available, it all became
so repetitive. On its own an
original game but compared
with frank Bruno I don't think
there is as much of a game here.

• 'At first sight I must say the
graphics in this game won me
over. They are very good
indeed. The figures are targe,
detailed, and move well. But the
game itself I am not so keen on.
The actual game it is far too
limiting. It's a shame that des-
pite the other four contenders
being gradually better they each
take on the appearance of a
black-eyed Spaniard! The move-
ments available in a fight are just
too limited, especially when you
look at other fighting games.
Way of the Exploding Fist on the
CBM for example, and realise
just how involved you can
become. One more point: i don 't
recommend the use of a joystick
with this game, it's just too
tempting to sit there and wiggle
it about '

# ' Yet another boxing game. We
seem to be inundated with them
here at CRASH at the moment,
and I don't think any of them are
particularly good. The novelty of
them wears off after a few goes
and you are left with nice graph-
ics and a pretty boring game.
Anyway, back to reviewing
Pocco, At first sight this boxing
game seems to be reason abty
good. Ii has fair graphics and
even a bit of sound every time
you get belted, but after a few
goes it turns into a 'slugging
match' with no other option. Alt
you can do is hit the bloke in
front of you in the face with
either your left or right fist.
When you have beaten your first
opponent, you are presented
with a different picture at the
bottom of the screen but the
actual character you're fighting
doesn't change at all, which I
think is a bit of a cop out.

COMMENTS

Control keys: 1-5/6-0 left/right

punch, Q-T/l-P left/ right block

Joystick: Kempston

Keyboard play: better than

joystick

Use of colour: very little

Graphics: solid, detailed and

pleasing

Sound; a sort of squidgy sound

for punches and a good bell

sound Skill levels: four

Lives: three

Screens: N/A

General rating: a good attempt

but doesn't quite make it

Use of computer 60%

Graphics 79%

Payability 62%

Getting started 70%

Addictive qualities 68%

Value for money 68%

Overall 70%

...computer games for people Software by...

who hate computer games. i a iQ Mra

Give your joystick a rest, pfcmue

and your brain a chance with ** IU,
these family favourites. r*E

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ORDER: Cheque or postal order to:

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CRA

Ll

THE COVENANT

Producer: PSS

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £6.95
Language: machine code
Author: Paul Hutchinson

The name Covenant refers to a
long lost parchment which
carries the entire cultural record
of a long dead people, a race
whose once proud members
have now mutated and been
scattered, along with fragments
of the Covenant among the 256
caverns of a subterranean horr-
orscape contained within a
planet. You are the last survivor
of the race, and as such it is your
duty to find the 64 pieces of
parchment and restore the
knowledge that it bears. You
must also gather the poor miser-
able mutant creatures from
within the caverns, so that whan
you have the complete parch-
ment the planet surface can be
repopulated.

Alone you may be, but unaid-
ed you're not. Your equipment
includes a globe (for getting
about in) and a stun gun. Now it
may seem odd that the wretched
creatures you are trying so hard
to rescue need to be stunned,
but it's safe to assume that at
this stage they have no Idea
what you are up to — so they
tend to regard you as an enemy.
The globe itself isn't a bundle of
fun to manoeuvre — its move-
ment is designed to mimic that
of submerged bodies, ie awk-
ward, Whenever you or your
globe come into contact with a
creature energy wit! be drained,
so the first task in any cavern is
to stun the creatures within and
take them on board by manoe-
uvring your craft over them.

The whole cave system is div-
ided up into blocks of four
rooms. Each area has a key, a
piece of the Covenant and some
anaesthetic. Get the anaesthetic

42 CRASH August 1985

for the stun gun so you can capt-
ure the critters, which you must
do, because you can only move
into the next area when they've
all been rounded up.

You only have one life so you
must be careful not to get too
dose to the creatures, especially
when you are not in the globe
the rate at which you lose
energy increases. Fortunately
you can recharge by standing on
a power point.

At any stage of the game you
can inspect the status screen by
pressing the space bar. This
screen shows how much of the
parchment you have collected,
your energy level and how many
objects (keys etc> and creatures

you have gathered. A record of
Ehe time and score is also dis-
played.

CRITICISM

• 'As the ratings may well
show, getting started on this
game was far from easy. The
instructions showed the anaes-
thetic to be a sponge like blob,
but in fact for the first area it
looked more tike a bowl of flow-
ers, and there was a bowl of
flowers on another screen, A
joke perhaps. The game itself
has some very well drawn and
colourful graphics. The move-
ment of the character and the
globe take a lot of getting used
to, but that's all part of the
game. On the whole I found this
to be a reasonably difficult
game but this was mostly due
to the 'bad' handling of the
craft. I have a feeling that this is
a game to keep alt of you map-
pers hard at work. Overall pretty
addictive but don't expect to fin-
ish it too soon/

• 7 have to admit that I found
this a very difficult game to
complete and I'm not sure that
the reasons for this are good
ones. The characters are very
difficult W control and the initial
supply of energy wouldn't he
enough to get a C5 down the
hallway. I suppose that is really
the challenge of it, one is expec-
ted to learn how to control the
characters and have the fore-
sight to find a recharge point in
time. Nevertheless the graphics
are very good and f am sure that
the game is interesting enough
to make the hard work required
worthwhile. '

• 'This is not an easy game to
play. The movement of the
globe is almost unpredictable,
as it is meant to be, but it's still
pretty confusing. When the
character leaves the globe he is
pretty happy just pottering
around the floor of the cavern,
but cannot be controlled when
floating upwards. I have decided
that there really isn't enough
energy for the first part of the
game — I know there are power
points available but I'm sure I
would have made more
progress if a difficulty level had
been provided. On the whole
this is a very attractive game;
there is a great deal to see and it
should keep the patient and per-
sistent going for a long time to
come/

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable

Joystick: any

Keyboard play: good

Use of colour: very good

Graphics: great

Sound: a little distressing at

times

Skill levels: one

Lives: one but can be re — charge

energy

Screens: 256

General rating: an inspired but

difficult game

Use of computer:
Graphics
Play ability
Getting started
Addictive qualities
Value for money
Overall

73%
84%
75%
68%
83%
82%
83%

» ^Pw^Fljtf w ffH^WF j

With the exception of issue t, we carry a Umrted stock of beck
numters f or readers who may h«va mlfcMsd out on earlier issues
and for those wHfi gaps in their Binders? Any issua toaanrtg ???
after the minion lenta means thai the stoek fa severely limited
and before ordering you should phone td cfc

BACK NUMBERS SPECIAL OiFFEB

Any three or four tssuos ordered at the same time — 40p off
total Rve or more issues ordered at the same tfme — 20d off
each hem. r

7 at ?Sp each

es 16 onwards at 95p each

J end packaging: 20p per (torn ordered

BO!K W.SHRGPSHI

44 CRASH August 1985

X&L&&

_

A rather green Alice Cooper look-alike on the front semen of
GO TO HBLL, Act/vision's anonymous attempt at the had
taste bandwaogon

GOTO
HELL

Producer: Triple Six

Software

Memory required: 48K

Retail price: £6.99

Language: machine code

Author: J. Jones{!)

Your fate, in this game, seems to
have arisen bv the unfortunate
use of the phrase Go to Hell'.
You must have cursed some-
one, a person near and dear to
you, with the result that they
actually went to Hell. Now you
must follow, and rescue them.

The game takes the form of s
complex maze. The walls are
'built' from such strange graph-
ics that one can get lost follow-
ing the same wal I from screen to
screen. To rescue the person

you cursed you must scour the
maze looking for seven crosses:
only a complete collection
allows you to escape. The
search for the crosses is hazard-
ous, not feast because contact
with the walls and all stationary
objects rapidly drains the life
force from you, and once
drained you will have to re-start
from the beginning.

Your energy will also be de-
pleted when you are hit by one
of the wide variety of gruesome
objects being hurled at you by
an even larger collection of
gruesome creatures— anything
from large hairy spiders to mad
headless monks. Your only def-
ence against these creatures is a
well aimed mint-cross, and a
direct hit will replenish your
energy a touch. In this night-
mare world you will be distract-
ed by the horrible events taking
place around you; heads being
crushed, victims on the racks,
heads being sawn through and
masses of other equally revolt-
ing scenes.

Sawing through a situli, in the maze of Hell

CRITICISM

• 'I managed to steal a glance at
the press release that came with
this game and read that we
would find it hard to do this
game justice. That may be so but
when all is said and done it is a
maze game: a fairly well drawn
maze game; a complex maze
game and a maze game that
often requires a high degree of
control skill. It is still only a maze
game, and one that is full of rev-
olting, crude and downright vile
images. Now I am going to give
Triple Six (whoever) the benefit
of th e dou bt and assu me that my
reaction was exactly as they had
hoped for. , . let's see if they are
right and maybe they can sell
lots of games to punters who
only want to buy it because its
so horrid. But — to do the game
justice — rf you really want a
maze game that's full of lots of
silly, nasty pictures then buy this
one/

• 'After looking at the subtle
cover I was expecting a game
that would reflect the same.
Wrong. With lots of nasties and
all sorts of things that one might
expect to go on in Hell, Go to
Hell's graphics are above aver-
age except that the main man is
pretty poorly animated. This is a
playable game but not at ail
addictive.

• 'This is certainly a very un-
usual game, full of very strange
graphics. Movement round the
maze is very hard, not because
of the other things throwing
objects at you — it's the near-
ness of the maze walls that make
for the difficulty. Frequently
there is exactly enough room to
fit your character through, one
slip and you're as good as dead.
All in all it's an annoying game
to play/

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q/A up/down, 0/
P left/right, M to fire
Joystick: cursor, Interface U and
Kempsron
Keyboard play; fine
Use of colour: varied, lots of
attribute problems
Graphics: novel, fairly well
drawn

Sound: lots of chewing and
sniffing sounds
Skill levels: one-
Lives: three
Screens: over fifty
General rating: a bit sick, other-
wise above average

Use of computer 62%

Graphics 72%

Playabifify 65%

Getting started 69%

Addictive qualities 72%

Value for money 74%

Overall 70%

WILLY II

Producer: Software
Projects

Memory required: 4flK
Retail price; £6.95
Language: machine code
Author: Messrs Smith
and Lawson

There realty isn't a great deal
that can be said about this game
that hasn't been said about its
predecessor Jet Set Willy. Jet
Set Wiily ft is a pretty faithful
sequel.

The story begins soon after
poor old Willy has had a nasty
fall down the stairs. He should
be in bed recovering but due to
the mess left by some rather
strange builders his wife Maria
is having a fit and insisting that
Willy tidies the house. On his
journey round the mansion
Willy is shocked to discover that
it has s lot more rooms than he is
paying rates for. The Builders
are responsible, but why?

As before you must guide
Willy around the house avoiding
the myriad hazards — razor
blades and flapping loo seats to
mention Just two. As you pass
from room to room you will
notice objects be they bottles,
glasses or even taps. These
objects must be collected by
guiding Willy over to them and
touching them. This may mean
having to dodge 'things' scamp-
ering up and down in your path,
in which case you will have to
apply a little skillful jumping.
Some very nasty traps have
been set for you — the conveyor
belt is a cinch compared to
some. Repeat the gathering
process for each room of the
house and hope that you make it
to the end, whatever that may
be.

COMMENTS

• I think that Jet Set Wiily II is a
brilliant game, but it's a shame
so many of the screens are the
same a$ Jet Set Willy. The graph-
ics are identical— they still have
the same degree of smoothness
and clarity. J reluctantly have to
conclude that I don't consider
Jet Set Willy to be a sequel . , . if s
more of a De— luxe version. That
said, the game is stilf up to s
pretty high standard, better in
some respects.'

• Wo doubt there are many
people that have eagerly await-
ed the arrival of JSW2. It has
been a long wait and my good-
ness, it wasn't worth one tiny
minute.' Admittedly there are
thousands of people who
bought JSW and no doubt there
will be thousands who wilt buy

CRASH August 1985 45

Looks familiar? Jet Set Willy wanders through his new.
improved mansion.

The Nightmare Room from JSW 2, Round here, the Art Room
feels the seme

SW2, but what you get for your
£6.95 is an extra forty rooms to
explore and work your way
through. Great, isn't it? The
graphics are now somewhat
dated and long past their prime.
it's a shame that Software Proj-
ects didn't put their time and
effort to better use and produce
a totally new idea instead of
extending an a/ready dead and
weli-poked game. Definitely not
my idea of a fun playing game,
but I suppose it's quite a good
buy if you haven't already got
JSWV

• 'Here we go again on the final
part (hopefully) of the Willy Tri-
logy. At the end of eighty-three
we marvelled at the superb
graphics and addictJveness of
Manic Miner, in mid eighty-four
we were astounded at the sheer
size and pi ay ability of one of the
first arcade adventures Jet Set
Willy, which sparked off Poke
Mania (or Candyitis as some
people call it). Now a year on we
can again be astounded by the
pi ay ability and larger size of the
same game that we were
astounded by last year, ... I'm
afraid to say that JSW 2 is not a
great improvement on its
parent. The main differences
between JSW 2 and JSW are the
extra screens and the speed —
which is a touch faster, making
the game slightly more play-
i able- Another difference I have

46 CRASH August 1985

'zfZWtaZi

noticed is that it is easier to get
into loops where you lose all
your remaining Jives. This is
obviously very infuriating if you
are well into the game. If you
haven't seen JSW 1 yet (where
have you been?f )\ woufd recom-
mend this game. I wouldn't tell
players of JSW 7 not to buy this
game either as it is interesting to
pi ay the extra screens. Generally
I found this game playable, but I
can see my interest deteriorat-
ing after a few weeks.

CRITICISM

Control keys; Q,E,T,U,0; left.

W,n\Y,l,P: right, shiftto space:

jump

Joystick: Kempston and Ram

Turbo

Keyboard play: very good

Us© of colour: very good

Graphics; as good as ever

Sound: nice tune

Skill levels: one

Lives: seven

Screens: over 100

General rating: very good , , . but

not much progress

Use of computer 70%

Graphics 50%

Payability 60%

Getting started 70%

Addictive qualities 45%

Value for money 72%

Overall 61%

ROLY POLY GOES
TO HOSPITAL

Producer: David Todd
Software

Memory required: 48K
Retail price: £4.99
Language: machine code
Author: David Todd

Roly Poly is a new character to
the computer games scene and
in this game he is trying his best
to help our National Health Hos-
pitals out with their equipment
shortage.

The game features more than
thirty rooms, each containing at
least two items of urgently
needed medical equipment. The
little rotund character, Roly Poly,
must be guided past obstacles
as he explores the building. The
hazards include just about any-
thing on the screen. For inst-
ance, the first screen has a series
of little pyramids on the floor
which must be jumped over —
but at the same time you must
avoid being squashed by frying
bus stops. The first object to be
picked up is a scalpel but that
can only be reached if you jump
onto a very narrow little wall.
Later on the rooms become a
little more complex and other
features, such as a lift, can be
used to reach the different
levels.

after the practice mode, i have
only managed to get to the
seventh screen so I'm sure that it
will take ages to play though the
whole game. The graphics are
well animated, small and neat
The sound only has spot effects
but there is a smart if disjointed
tune at the start. I think on the
whole that the game is a little too
hard, otherwise it woufd have
been much more addictive.
Without some victories you
begin to lose the sense of
achievement that drives you on'

• 'While f was impressed by the
quality and the colour of the
graphics I think the game could
nave been a little faster. I have
spent a long time playing this
game and I am a long way from
solving it. I'm not sure that just
because a game is ultra hard
that should make it good. Bui
considering the quality of the
programming I think I can safely
recommend it to the masochists
among you.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: Q to P in pairs for
left/right, A to jump
Joystick: Kempston and cursor
Keyboard play: responds well

CRITICISM

• 'My first impression of Roly
Poly in Hospital was "gosh
chaps this looks a bit like Manic
Miner in Hospital". Yes I know
there's no such game but if there
was ... I found the game pretty
difficult to play because the
character seems to jump such a
long way, but I suppose that's
part of the game. Nevertheless
the game is both fun and chal-
lenging. The graphics are neat,
smooth and fairly colourful.
Maybe worth a look for the
price.'

• 'This game resembles Manic

Miner and Jet Set Willy but it is
very much harder to play, even

Use of colour: flat but smart

Graphics: smooth and detailed

Sound: limited to spot effects

Skill levels; one, and a practice

level

Lives: five

Screens: over 30

General rating: clever, neat but

over difficult.

U se of computer 65 %

Graphics 72%

Playabitity 57%

Getting started 60%

Addictive qualities 61 %

Value for money 60%

Overall 62%

Johnny Jones, modem day hero and explorer
extraordinaire, has finally discovered the lost Temple of
Abu Simbe! s built by the great Pharaoh Ramses II over
3000 years ago.

In frenzied desperation he enters this secret world and is
drawn into a frightening adventure, threatened by the
Pharaoh's curse, in constant danger until he can reach the
inner mortuary chamber.

■■■■■■■■■■i

SPECTRUM 48K £7.95

Gremlin Graphics, Alpha House, 10 Carver Street, Sheffield SI 4FS, let (0742) 753423 ~

The battle between FORUM intra s and Playing Tip intros hots up
this month as once again CRASH sets out to prove that the
magazine is nothing more than an ego-boost to underpaid
superstars Mangram and Candy. A number of readers, as you will
see, have decided that we are one and the same person. Not true,
but I'll leave the full answer until later.

Despite the official ban on poetry in the Forum, I've been flooded
with the stuff again, some of it not half bad either, so forgive the
occasional excursion into culture vulture land. In fact I was so taken
with the first letter (not exactly poetry} that I'm giving it LETTER OF
THE MONTH status. It also fits well, because as f write the annua)
Shakespeare Play is taking place in Ludlow Castle . . . I'm a bit
suspicious of the writer however. , . .

FROM THE FIRST
FOUO

i to this Lloyd,
I've just unearthed erne of
Shakespeare's lesser known

The Tragedy of CRASH 'in
a rden . So here 'a an
extract from my exclusive
discovery donated to my worthy
Why am J so generous?
j se the deep h idde n
meaning applies indirectly to
you.

THE SET SHOWS A STREET
SCENE HM ANCIENT LUDLOW.
(Enter MJke Roberts, CRA

is and Spec
Ownei

MIKE. Ogreaie: r au

joineth I,

Whence my heart's flooded with
hateful misery,

ivring ventured .forth and
given hard earned po u\
to thy shopkeeper in return for
Everyone's a Walfy
having been enhanced by its
deliu 1

In awe of its wondrous graphics
and addicted to such
suchoti

AJas, my n I atb

culminated allth
and displayed the answers
broad and i

krth
even n
Wilma's bra seem empty

REDERUS : Fair friend, you r grief
over tragedy

i to Ihe public that same
magazine,

Hatn presented the methods of
defeating Tir Na Nog

OWNERIET: Though it grieves
me to say what follows now
More en joy men i, rrtirtg

has fallen ir.

48 CRASH August 1985

Answers to Avakm,

Pyjamarama and Midnight too,

a fas,

(And endless others} and pokes

gal<: i

Alas a second time

MIKE: Wilt the dreadful, sinful

Robin Candy persist,

If we were to send letters of

protest unto he?

Wilt thou not follow me to my

fn order to prevent him from
wasting our cash again?

OWNERIET: Then unto he this

letter we shall send,

And begin the ' £ ■.Candy

■ I games away fund' ,
But hope the only giving games
away from CRAJ
is prizes for our star letter

HEDERUS:Butthatisnot
possible,

For Mangram doth only give his

gam.

If thou doth mention Design

Des

MIKE: Oh yeah! Better go n buy
DARK ST Aft and play with the
-ore chart

Actually, Uqyd, Shato

. . •
you fooled though, dj

Ml leave you to type this
letter into FORUM Jn peace,
Mike Roberts, Ofcehampton,
Devon

Are you sure yot i

Mtke Roberts (from

every ane with his comments on
the Spectrum v the 64? No, wet I
okay then, ftho* ;i$b

pretty original-way oigettn
software, 'but of course the
reesot fj was

because y:
Design Design .
LM

BUG BOX SPECIAL!

This month 's BUG BOX includes
three excellent comic strips. I
thought all throe wore genuinely
funny and clever in the true sense
of a short, sharp story well told.
The entries from ANDREW

TAKING A BASH

Dear CRASH

Again I am going to take a bash

At getting my poem printed in

CRASH.

This time I write, not directly for

software

But 'cos I lost CRASH and didn't

take care

A new Spectrum owner I knew at

school

So at my feet he began to drivel

'Which is the best magazine to

buy?

'CRASH' I said, And don't ask

why'

So I lent him March Edition to

have a look at

He lost it and that was the enc* of

that,

One more subscriber I got for

your magazine

But my issue 14 is now a 'has

been'

If this poem is the star letter

Can I have another to make my

set. Eh?

That is n ow th e end of my sad

story

And now something of great

glory

f have completed

PYJAMARAMA at last

I used the late poke and tips of

past

More playing tips and maps are

a good idea

Extended letters pages also

brings no tear

BRUCE LEE \ completed on my

4th game

And that was before your map

came

A reviewer said It was easy to do

And beating up nasties is good

for you \

That is why I keep playing

BRUCE LEE

Because beating up nasties is

also forme

Although I didn't get star letter I

was glad

Because ALIEN 8 1 already had

This time if star letter is what I

get

Can I have ALIEN and the gap in

my set

Martin Clark, Leeds

PS ALIEN by Argus Press please,
'cos ALIEN 8 1 complete with

SANDERS and RICHARD
HARRISON almost deserve a
regular spot in fact, and as they
both sent in two different little
strips, I'll use them over two
issues. AND they both get a prize

Good try, Martin, but as I said,
POETRY IS BANNED (by Order
— signed RC)

DOWN UNDAH

Dear CRASH,

G'day! Living 'ere down undah
ain't all it's cracked up to be. We
get all great mags about 3
months late, and without
wishin' to be a wet blanket I
reckon it's pretty darn rotten, I
guess I'll just haf ta fork out fifty
bucks (not that I'm complainin'
about the price mind you) and
subscribe*

Now I reckon I stop grumblin'
an' get on with me lettah. I wrote
t' say that CRASH is Beuty-
Bonzai I read all the reviews
before I empty me wallet so I
don't haf ta kiss me hard-earned
cash g'bye for a grotty
game with tacky graphics that
ain't worth the puce of a mouldy j
peanut, an' aftah I read the
review of US Gold's Zaxxon I
was really disappointed on how
they could wreck up a good
game with bad programmin'
(wot d' the septics know about
computers anyhow?)

And as I wait with baited
breath for the next issue t' show
up, I say again that CRASH is a
h * * * *y good mag , good on y a !
Colin Lockhart, Forbes, New
South Wales, Australia

"Nl auniiO^iieLus&isoopinOM

^BLUdui '}no paddtus jo peQjsui

fievjjte A q painqu}$tp seM ii ji

asoddns / -japun um op jno ted 6}

HSVidD J0 J ouof os sa)/ei ji Ajjos

luj Jdtsea it peaj ueo noA $ / os

'ut/oj 'UMop apisdn siuj mid

oj idop lie aui jo'B &aj 'sjapeaj

uisnoo jeiuofoj Jno jnoqe

ajej Affeaj a/v\ ieu} mous ot isnp

An unusual Bit$ Box item from ALAN CHOQ-KA/VG, of
Kirkcaldy, Fife, inasmuch as it's a loading screen.

A CRASH SOAP

Dear CRASH,

Yes — it's DYSNTRY all over
again. What will happen to the
CRASH Team next? Young?
Robin Candy (the dashing
young man with the charm of a
squashed toad) DEMANDS? a
clear photo of himself — Roger
{he, who for some reason has
brackets in between his name)
Kean says NO? — Candy gets
depressed and so gets drunk on
wine gums.

MEANWHILE, bade at the
ranch, Lloyd gets rushed to
hospital after someone took a

photo of him, and Lloyd has
collapsed through a severe case
of photophobia (nice long word,
look it up in your dictionary
when you get better Lloyd).
Here an emotional scene takes

glace (violin music in
ackground please), the whole
of the CRASH Team gathers
round, Olt {that's one hell of a
weird name), Roger {brackets)
Kean, Derek (sorting out Morkin
and Doorndark) Brewster, and
Matthew Ufftndell (that can't be
a real name can it)?

Roger {big hunky man) Kean
asks who it was who took the
photo of Lloyd, They all close in
with an air of suspense as Lloyd

Here are & few lively bugs from ANDREW MUPftA Y, Wast »
Wtckham, Kant.

FORMER

MICRO-DRIVE TRANSFER UTILITY
48 K Spectrum

Transformer is an automatic Microdrive Utility for your
48k Spectrum, Transformer enables you to transfer
most of your software onto Microdrive at a touch of a
button. No prior knowledge of machine code or Basic
programming is required to operate Transformer.
Transformer is GUARANTEED to put an end to the
majority of your Microdrive transfer problems.

PRESS REVIEWS

How to fast toad hits on a Spectrum. AH that tedious messing about
with asAcmbters is a Jhrng of the pasi with Tt ansfewmer.
— YOUR COMPUTER

This utility is a dream to use — MICRONET 800

Of »H ihe utiliices r u**d This * <ho omt I fweWed. Its ease of use
me-ans t ha? it can be amptoyedby almost anyorwh mvaluobto lonovica
and for the BKporjaneod Microdrive user. — CRASH

Send to:- ACS Software PO Box 608, Bfackhearh, S£3 7ER

Please supply copy /copies TRANSFORMER @ £8.95 each

I enclose cheque/pasta/ order for£^

rt/sme;..

Address:

, Post Code .

Post and Packing included

props himself forward and
whispers the final words of a

oreatmanf?:

vVell' {Yes he'd caught a drastic
case of Well itis from Robin
{blurred) Candy).

■****»** says Oli (six
asterisks, that'll get you
thinking),

' WELL', saysRoger Kean — no
brackets!! fit is catching'

BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN
NEXT?

Witl Lloyd rise from the dead?
Who cares?

Did he really exist anyway?
Who will get Lloyd's desk and
money?
Who is the Ultimate team?

Who will win the World Cup?
Will I get the star letter?

None of these answers, but
others, will be answered in next
munfs episode. Only in
CRASHTY
Craig Stewart, Plymouth

WELL, one's answered anyway
— no tetter of the munf for you.
LM

W fM 1 1 -J * i iW JTM

': Fjrst_cpmp^fiy in all UK. to introduce while-uwait \
': service. Now Heat to offer an international repair service. :

«( have oome atrtisSi n firni that will be intne ihjui wiling to advise you ri-, lo Imu •

to remedy your probWm, They art called MANCOMP. and as well as repairing :

; iaurty Spectrurm, W» alvo quite U'illi/iy lo dfeCuM vour probte-riks with db \

: you. end offer reasonably cheap, and (move importantly) cofHfd cut& jF :

\ PHIL ROGERS !'«* A Poke' I

"POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY" :
.UiiMrylWSWollVNnlJ.

: d^ M^i Spwctnim btew recently. I took i( !o Mancomp ulm feflfd i1 m etifa A •

i W minutes? And for less than 1 1 0. TVvare local, clued up, and brindirKlJy efficient J :

COMF1 1 1 ;R . i i| UMN4 HEATONS -

i "><••. 1 1 \

CI 3 Hi' firm at least can u^unfly nftvct any necessary 1 repair nve* the countei in
forty five minutes. Basrd in Manchester Mancomp can offer what .is

arguably rhf i^tcvt turnaround in thtf

if, mcincomf) can offer what is *m
« business to personal cutters _P 3
("RASH MAGAZINE. JUNE I W> W Z

= • PHONE/SEND SPECTRUM

= FOR FREE ESTIMATES. ENC£ J .80 (U.K. I.Q-M. EWE, €>l)

= £250 (EUROPE/SCANDINAVIA) 41 NO HIDDEN

= HANDLING CHARGES •24 HOUR TURNAROUND

| 4» OPEN TILL 7 PM. MON - SAT • K EYBOARD

\fj MANCOMP LTD. FAUITS

_■ <D*plC/ ). Printworlt* tan«,

Manchester MI1JJP.

i Tel: 061224 1888

CRASH August 1985 49

NAUGHTY CANDY

Dear Lloyd,
i Please tie Robin Candy up and
1 stop him from revealing tips for
new games, some of which are
not yet a few weeks old in the
shops, I bougbtShadowfire, and
spotting the review by Robin, I
read it and tried his methods.
Lo and behold, little over an
hour later, game completed!
What a waste of money. I've two
choices: either stop buying
CRASH; or hire 'The Jackal' to
rub out Candy — and I can't
afford the second option.
P Morgan, Dyfed, Wales
PS I suspect the only reason
Robin gave us all the gen on
Shadowfire what that it's the
first game he's ever completed.

Under great pressure RC has
requested a personal reply, so

over to you Robin , , . What — oh
you've a/ready replied in the
Playing Tips? Pine, thanks for
wasting my time. Sorry, P
Morgan, you'll just have to turn
to those dreaded PTs.
LM

OVERLAY
PROBLEM

Dear Sir/Madame,

•thsagol
changed my ZX81 for a
Sped which was all

made possrble by a windfall of
cash. ( enjoyed adventuring on
rrry ZX81, so you can imagine
how much I was looking forward
to the infinite chc
adventures my Speccy woi
bring. About one month after
getting my new computer, f
bought Lords of Mid;

The game was brill, v
thought out and with
im peccabl e b u t there

was one major drawback -
Keyboard Overlay provided with

Fie would only fit my
Spectrum Plus ill cut it up S
pieces

Presumably, the Software,
manufacturers think that if you

i
be good at making your own
keyboard overlays— - have the
software comp rod

that there are two dffifej
Spectrum?:' lyone.

who makes blank Keyboard

ays which I could use on
my Speccy Plus'
T Broadhurst, Wytnenshawe,
Manchester

The Sir /s fine — a little less of
the Madame if you pleas el

Of course the Lords of
Midnight packaging was all
done long before the Spec
Pius appeared on the mar:
Oven-
rubber keyed Spectrum, but the
Plus keyboard isn ';
reaJly suited to them.
I don't know the

•■to this one — does
anyone?
LM

50 CRASH August 1985

JIMllTEK

THAT PlCTunC : )

MARK StBSON from Ossett, Wast York* caught Robin Candy
rather wall. I thought. Tho cartoon of Angus RyaN, however,
had to be censored, sorry . . .

-J

HYPER PIRATES

DearLfoyd,

1 think I have come up with a new
theory on piracy. It's a fact that
not all the games out now are
really brilliant, most are pretty
average. Your ordinary pirate
will copy every game he comes
across, copying them all, good
and bad alike,

Most of the games he copies,
he will play only once or twice,
because they are not that
brilliant. He would play only a
few games regularly — for
example f have had a copy of
Psytron for five months which I
have only played once, and out
of my entire illegal collection
there are only five games I
would have bought if I hadn't
been able to get a copy of them.

If you think about it, money is
only lost on a game if the person
who copies it would have
bought it in the first place. This
means that far less profit is lost
due to copying than most
software houses would have us
believe.

Also, the software houses
may like to know that the harder
they make a game to copy, the
more determined the pirate is to
copy it. So stop using Hyper
Loads — it would save everyone
a lot of trouble (including the
ho nest people who buy a game
justto find out they can't get it to
load).

Thanks for reading this letter,
and f hope it will change the way
people think about piracy,
Long John Silver'

/ think you are right about hyper
loads — more a nuisance than a
protection, but it still doesn't
answer the central problem that
the more people copy games
illegally, the less money there is
for the software house and the
harder it is therefore for them to
continue making games.
LM

LETTERFROMAN
IDIOT

Dear Bloyd Diagram,
I'm a very rich Spectrum owner
who buys lots of incredibly
expensive games every day, and
I now have 2,567 tapes in my
collection. I also wipe my nose
with budget game inlay cards,
and keep warm in the winter by
burning Cray supercomputers in
our back garden which just
happens to be a small area
called 'Mexico'.

I really like Ultimate games,
but they're so cheap I buy lots
and lots and give them away to
charities like Buy Ryall some
new clothes fund'.

I think your magazine, or
should J say comic, BASH is
really fine. Just one or two
constructive comments to help
you keep your pamphlet up to
the standard of my other daily,
'Mormons Weekly' however, , .

How about an article on the
molecular structure on the
pygmy artichoke's roots? I'm
sure you'd increase your
circulation by some. And, as I
think somebody else once
suggested, an article or series
about how to program in Pascal
(or even Fortran) on theZXBO
would go down well.

I would just like to tell you
what I think of Dobbin Randy,
but you wouldn't print it anyway
. . anyway, I'll have to go now
because my U ncle Ronnie's here
{he's the President of America
you know), and he's brought his
boat with him —the QE2, you
know — and we're going on
holiday . . . hang on . . . there's
two men in white coats here , . ,
get off I ... I'm not wearing that
thing!,.. Ill just sign off. ...
Stephen Nolan, Walton,
Liverpool

/ admire the strength of your
nose to cope with those stiff
inlay cards. A CRASH cooking

column (featuring pygmy
artichokes) is very much on the
cards, I'm told. Graeme Kidd, an
expert on budget price cuisine
and author of 5,000 Things To
Do With A Tea Bag (a companion
book to my famous Long Word
Dictionary) is planning
something along these fines.
Enjoy your holiday— /hope the
stay won 't be too long . . .

SEX MADMAN?

Dear Lii .
A question to all those CRASH
adventure ■ low

many of you would buy an adv-
enture based on that britlta
Jomaie Madonna? A fV
Ocean are bringing o
F rankse game, and 'I'd like to do a

i market research be f i
bring out my Quilled adventure
entitled Like the

(It'll be good, I
uuarantee it, since I love

vhy haven't we seen a
picture of you in the mags
Mr Lloyd Manynsrrw' Pert,-,
you did appear m CRA

young speccy
own ing fe ma fes wou id st< .
the Ludlow offices in a Ire- 1
von. Or maybe you are
an .

Uke Milton Keyi

R Hogg, Pentlergeer. Swansea

Keynes in my life, the

ifsv&n

because thereare quite a few

<1 we
'

■
hate being photographed.
Any,.. iing'

Snfto

myone'sp\

of me mid thus iose the mystery
ent that mat 'jper

star (look what happen ■
■< Candy),

A SOUND RATING

Dear CRASH,
Now that you have, at fast,
altered your rating system so
that the Overall Rating' is no
longer an average of the others,
could you give some sort of
percentage rating for sound so
that we can see how good the
sound is. Describing it in words
is usually pretty vague.
S J Hawryfak, Tunbridge Wells,
Kent

The trouble with Spectrum
sound is tha t it depends so much
on your individual computer
and its type. The Plus sounds a
lot louder, for instance than the
rubber keyed version. And then,
we tend to hear whatever sound
there is with various add on
amplifiers and things. When you
hear it without (if you haven 't
got anything) you will probably
he disappointed. However, your

L

request has been passed on to
Those Who Decide Things, and
we'll see what happens.
EM

GOOD VALUE

:oyd,
f have read with interest some
the letters in Forum, which
contain complaints about the
price of software. Welt. I'm sick
and tired of people moaning mat
ihis game or that game is too
expensive.

&&, ten pounds is a bit
steep for a game, but it is well
worth it if the game is fab. if you
spare a thought for the

timmers, then you realise
just how much work they have
to put in. On some of the top
games, programmers spend up
to a year getting the game to
perfection, and if the game

: be a flop, then that's an
awful lot of -ffort

was'
The-best thing to do when. you
i ien pounti •'.. i have

a look at the review of it in
CRASH, an

shopkeeper if it is good. Maybe
if you "re lucky the sho>

t Out

computers. The i jj the

game,. you ram buy it,.

the knowledge i;

every penny.

Scott Ashley , Grantham. Lines

Value is always a relative ti

If you compare g

pop singles or even paperback

hooks J think they

pretty well, given that they are

sold in m uch smaller quan ,

/ mean, I can read the avert i

ween £?.35and
£2, 95) in a day and a /.-

'obabfy never read it again.
...

might

U& NON-U

Oear Lloyd,

After reading last month's

CRASH, I thought I would send

you a list of IN% and OUT's,

which seems to be the

fashionable thing to do at the

moment. Here they are:

IN

Fastloaders

War-games

'Officially licenced games'

Denton Designs

Huge plastic or card cassette

cases

Sequels to games

The Games Workshop

Angus Ryall

The good old shoot-ermup

Monty Mole

Adventure International

OUT

So-called 'Mega' games

Helicopter games

Matthew Smith

Quilled Adventures

Placing ads in mags for games

12 months before they arrive

Elite

JSW pokes

Budget software

Platform games

Olympic tyP e games

Ziggy

James Lea, Rugby,

Warwickshire

Hmmm, an exercise of dubious
value, but fun alt the samel I
suppose after the 'Bop as you
Zap * spate of letters, an In/ Out
series is in order. And talking of
8 A YZ, here's a letter that starts
off...

WB Have regfer KB£ D ;-
give ||S a 3¥ear K ,fc

• ^ _ jo*"!** LurnXdY
And a i> iDt > #f aE w i«

Get the idea, amigo? Anyway, a
couple of points:- firstly, why do
all these wimps complain about
all the gorgeous, gory pictures?
Personally, I adore them,
especially the ones featuring
well-built cave girls.

I noticed you said in issue 18
tha* Jeremy Kimmons started
the Bop ... etc off. Well, credit
where credit is due, 1. always say,
and I notice that, as Mr Kimmons
says in issue 15, John Tapper
was the first to realise that the
sound of the Spectrum was
seriously in need of
accompaniment Why 'Bop as
you Zap'? Why not 'Jive to
Survive', 'Dance as you Prance
or 'Jump as you Thump' . . . ?

Adieu for now, remember the
ransom and hurry up — he's
getting on our nerves. Yours,
The Fiat Strada Bandidos
(address witheld for obvious
reasons)

Sorry lads, you're out of luck. As
far as we're concerned you can
hold onto him.
LM

IT'S A FAIR BOP

Dear Lloyd,

After scanning through the
pages of the Earth-journal
CRASH, I noticed various letters
from Earth-beings telling you
what music to listen to whilst
playing various Earth computer
games.

However, it is evident ihat
your Earth- programmers also
enjoy listening to music. For
instance, did you know that
Ava/on and Py/amarama are
both songs by earth-group Roxy
Music? Is Steve Turner really

There are more examples of
song titles being stolen for game
. names. Wild West Hem by ELO,
I Locomotion byOMO&
someone else I can't remember,
Ghostbusters by Ray Parker
{does this count?), A View to a
Kill by Duran Duran {does this
one coun t either? '), The Forest by
the Cure, Here Comes the Sun
by someone else I can't
remember. Confusion by New
Order (Incentive can't spell).
Complex by Gary Newman
(neither can Legend), etc, etc.. ,.

A few bands have had their
names nicked as well: Icicle
Works {by Statesoft) and
Tubeway Army {by Crystal},
Even guitarists aren't safe. The
Edge of U2 has had his name
pinched by what used to be
Softek!

Another interesting
connection between the
computer game and music
'scene' (I believe this is the
correct earth expression! is that
they are both obsessed with
charts, will we see the software
industry afflicted with the same
problems as the music scene, ie
awful bands like W**m and
Sp*n*'u B*ll*t selling loads of
records just because they spend
Emega-bil lions on videos and
marketing?

Nemesis The Warlock, Planet
Murduk, Nether Worlds

What's in a name, la/ways say?
I Mercy me, that's another thing!
always say j.
LM

BOYS, BOYS,
BOYS

oyd r
I'm writing to complain abi
how there's no good computer

,2ines for girls. I think
dreadful

■e Ihe ZX Spectrum
because there are lots of games
be for
boys, not girls. My brother gets
CRASH and I read it, b. ,
boys, boys, boys all the time,
Elizabeth Chatfield, Gosporr,
Hampshire

A in'', t

ff'uf there 'i

boys as well. My
sister (did you know I have a
sister?) gets KNITTING
MONTfii Y and I reac

/opd patterns, b-

■
define what makes a game

■a for boys.

dame for girls.

HELP!!

Dear Lloyd,

Just thought I'd drop you a line
to tell you that I'll never be able
to write a letter to CRASH.
Want to know why?

1) I can't write massive letters
like June 85s Letter of the
Month, because

a) I haven't got any CRYSTAL/
DD games

bfl can't afford games like
Knight Lore or Alien 8, so J can't
compare them

c) I can't write about HYPER/
TURBO loads, because they
weren't even thought of the last
time I bought a decent game

2) I can't write to Mandy Candy,
because the only playing tip I
know is Infinite Lives on JSW

I not very original, eh?)

3) My pen is running out.

So there

Anton i Perry man, London W2

Sometimes it's such a shock
when you come up against this
level of deprivation. I'm sure Mr
Candy would be Just dee- lighted
to receive your JSW pokes,
Antoni, after all, he hasn 't had
an y of those for such a long time

LM

A f#w bugs from J BROAD, Oxford — strange how *© many
hugs beg for £12 . , .

CRASH August 1985 51

PAY RISE TIME

Dear Lloyd,

I think it is about time you got a
pay rise. I mean all the hard
I letter writing and criticism from
Robin Candy and readers can
turn a man into a pea-brained
lunatic, so Roger Kean start
thinking and give 'old' LM a pay
rise (or at least a bonus),
Robert Tanks, Hollywood, Nr
Birmingham

fa/most made this one letter of
the month/ Of course, Roger
Kean is no longer my boss as he
has gone on to pastures new (for
his poor record they ha ve
demoted him to ZZAP! 64
magazine). New Editor Graeme
fdodis, if anything, a harder task
master (boos offstage) and he
hasn't forgotten my criticism of
the phrase CRASH-SMASHED.
Rucks of problems ahead for
poor Lloyd, I can see, tut, tut, tut.

BRAIN CELL II
DANGER

Dear Lloyd,

In response to Martin (Wally)
Chan's letter about Sri
adventures, if the little tw;
half a brain ceil he would know
that arcade adventures tax your
I sic). He probably doesn "t
like them because he can't do

How can you compare the
'■assiappj. with

a g ood ha rd arcade i , i
like Dun Dar&ch? If he attempted
to do an adventure he wc

Probabfy wear his brain cell out I
lease, Martin, could you try.an
arcade adventure and see how
good they really are,
Andy HolJingsbee. DursJey,
Gloucs

Most people I have ce
who have had 3 go at
adventure: <>wi/!tngty,

i Uctrve
w hours p/a]
9 que .''ting that cell

moving.
LM

NOT A POEM,
MORE A SONG

If there's something weird in

your machine code.

Who you gonna call?

CODEBUSTERS!

If you have a game, and it just

won't load

Who you gonna call?

CODEBUSTERS'

! ain't afraid of no code

If you're seeing things running

'cross your screen

Who can you call?

CODEBUSTERS I

If it's headerless and it turns you

green

Who you gonna call?

CODEBUSTERS!

52 CRASH August 1985

If you're all alone, hook up the

'phone

and call CODEBUSTERS f

! ain't afraid of no code
I hear the game won't load

I ain't afraid of no code
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

If you haveadoseofturboload,

baby

You'd better call

CODEBUSTERS!

Hacking makes me feel good!
I ain't afraid of no code

If you've messed up the bytes

And the screens won't load up

right

You'd better call

CODEBUSTERS!

Who you gonna call, . , ,

Anon, Somewhere in the
Universe

With sincere apologies to
anyone who maybe offended/ (f
thought I had banned poetry,
and calling it a song is no way to
get round me j.

MAKING LIFE
IMPOSSIBLE

Dear CRASH,

You received a letter the other

month that caught my eye. It
was by M Aid ridge. May I just
say that although piracy is very
bad for the software industry, it
will never be stopped.

It is the same as any other
form of copying really — can
you imagine what would
happen if everyone in the world
stopped taping records off the
radio, photo-copying articles
out of magazines and books,
taping films from the local video
hire shop etc.? It just would be
impossible.

You may be asking where
does the letter M Aloridge wrote
come into it? He says you should
stop printing details of the
control keys for games. I don't
think this would be a very good
idea, as some people like to
know what kind of key layout the
computer has, and some games
do not include the keys with
them.

On another front, how about
bringing Terminal Man back? I
know you got a few letters from
some KGB trainees saying you
should stop it, but it is obvious
that this minority of killjoys just
want their own way, so go on —
bring back some entertainment
to your wonderful magazine.
Kevin Bore, Ealing, London

We'd love Terminal Man back,
but the problem lately has been
Oliver Frey's time. The four
pages of comic strip took up so
much time, and (although this
isn't widely voiced abroad) he is
also Managing Director of the

company, so he's quite busy
with other things apart from
artwork.
LM

TELL ME I'M
WONDERFUL

Dear Lloyd,

For the first time ever f have
actually c: , Spectrum

program. I was so pleased, I
cai led Melbourne Ho use to tell
them how much I enjoyed
Starion and discovered that I
was the first to complete it. Did
'hey offer me a Porsche? Not on
your time-warp matel A mini? A
t of Polos? , . . not even so
i as a 'Congratulations'.
Won't anyone boost my ego
and tell me howwonderh.il 1 am?
Barry Blitz, London SW9

Barry, you are wonderful.
LM

PEN PALS NEEDED

I am fifteen years old, and have a
4SK Spectrum, lam also
interested in machine code and
would like to hear from boys and
girls of any age — replies
ensured!

Adrian Kok, 07-123, BLK314,
Mougang Ave 5, SINGAPORE
1193

SPECTRUM - COMMODORE 64 - AMSTRAD - MSX - BBC MODR 8 - COMPATIBLE

TELEX 628332 GAME G TELEPHONE SALES 051-709 4462

© "NODES OF YESOD" IS A COPYRK3HT OF OD5N COMPUTER GRAPHICS LTD

STARIONMkll

Dear Lloyd,

I am writing to you in the hope
that you will publish my fetter to
warn other CRASH readers to be
careful before buying the game
Station by Mef bourne House.

After reading your review of
the game I went out and bought
it J loaded it up and was amazed
by the excellent graphics and
the cunning idea behind the
whole game, But three days
later I found about ten faults
with it and most of these faults
contradicted the instructions —
or weren't even mentioned.

'Oh No! ', f thought, 'Have
CRASH gone crazy, giving the
game 94% 7 But then I
remembered reading a letter in

you r magazine about som ebody
who had bought a game that
was a pre-production copy, so I
wrote to Melbourne House
explaining what was wrong with
my copy.

Two weeks later their reply
came, explaining that the first
issue of Station was more
difficultto play than intended.
And the only way to get extra
hulls was to get a sufficiently
high score.

They also told me that a new
version of the game has been
produced which lets you
replenish your oxygen and fuel
when landing on a planet with
the right cargo. They went onto
say that if f returned the game
they would exchange it for the
new version.

So anybody thinking of
buying the game — ask to see it
on the screen. If it's got yellow
lines on the X-Z and Z-Y
scanners, it is the new version. If
it hasn't, it is the Issue One
version.
Adrian Mc Kenzie, Hoyland, Nr

Thanks for the information,

Adrian

LM

SLIME RETHINK?

Dear Lloyd,

Could you please do something
with your Hall of Slime. It is
impossible to use! For instance,

the fellow who claims to have
completed Bugaboo in 4
seconds must have had a turbo-
charged Flea! He is a Juna-tic,
Hah-hah. Do you get my point?
Robert Lines, Gosport, Hants

Point taken indeed, Robert, We
might well change one or two
things within the slimy hail,
perhaps specifying certain
games for scoring month by
month. This gives a better
chance of checking the scores
out than at present, but I would
hate to stop people from
sending in their scores on any
game. Problem with that is,
obviousfy, there isn't reai/y the
time to scrutinise the figures, so
t ha ve to trust in you lot — hahf

Top Bug Box prize this month goes to RICHARD HARRISON
from London SE23, who aunt in two 'funnies'. I'll use one
this month and next issue it's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBOT
LLOVDf, which had mm in stitches — wmftands«e. . ,

/S<j@- w*«_. ~~"*>v
\8efM puff.»s f-cp'- t*fj

o S(^

-

54 CRASH August 1985

MAIL ORDER BURN

Dear CRASH,

I have something lo say about
Micromania, tn issues 13 and 14
J saw the advert about Project
Future, f thought the game
looked good, so f sent for it on
i8tn March, direct to the
manufacturers (as it was my first
issue of CRASH I hadn't worked

i out how to use the CRASH Mail

l Order form).

On April 19th my Mum wentto
the bank to see if Micromania

I had cashed her cheque for £6,95
as i still had no received Project
Future. They had cashed the
cheque on 17th March. So I sent

[ a letter complaining that the/
had received the money but
hadn't sent my game.
I still haven't had a reply, and 1 1

| would be grateful if you could
advise me what to do.
Carl Alston, Chorley, Lanes

Micromania has ceased trading,
and its proprietor, Dominic
Wood, has informed us that he
has gone into bankruptcy. I don't \
know at this time whether there
has been any further action on
the matter. But it does mean that
you haveprobabiy lost your
money. Micromania was not a
I urn i ted company, however, and
Dominic is therefore personalty
i table to pay your money back,
but this process is likely to take a
long time and be very
complicated, and you would
obviously be best advised to see
a lawyer — somethinq,
however, that might end up
costing more than the original
price of the game.
LM

COMPLAINTS

Dear Lloyd,

Unfortunately. I am writing to
point out to you three of my own
criticisms:

1) Cassette packaging. About a
year ago, nearly afl software
came in standard cassette
boxes, which could be stored
neatly in far from expensive
audio cassette racks. But now
most software that's worth
having comes in boxes of
differing sizes and these

Cackaged easily o,et tatty and
roken. One obvious example is
the box for Everyone's A Wally
which could be very frail.
2) Loading screens. Although
some loading screens are very
attractive and interesting, surely
they are a waste of time. AM they
do is make the loading time
longer, J for one would like to see
a quicker loading program man
a longer one with a loading
screen. Recently I was trying to
load Wriggler, and the loading
screen went wrong, But instead
of trying to load it again I let the
program continue and it
worked. Usually I would have
tried to load it again and wasted
my time — so, are loading
screens really worth the bother?
3] Softa/d, It is a very good idea,

and for an excellent cause, but
some of the programs are very
hard to load. One of my friends
has to use three different tape
recorders to load all of the
programs. Another of my
friends cannot load three of the
games on the tape. Normally he
has 1 0X) percent success with his
tape recorder.

I know several people who
were going to buy the program,
but didn't because of the loading
problems. Surely the quality of
the recordings could be
improved which would result in
more people buying the
cassette, thus raising more
money for the fund?
Richard Tayfor, Winchcombe,
Gloucs

J agree with you about
packaging, but software houses
are up against what is called
consumer appreciation', which
put simply means 'grabbing the
eye — hence the bigger boxes
if or which you ha ve to pay a little
more of course). The trouble is
that there are plenty of surveys
m existence on this subject
which tend to prove that bigger
and better looking packaging
does sell m ore effectively.
In some senses loading
screens are a waste of time, but
they do add to the fun of a game,
and jf done properly, shouldn't
take up much time. As far as
Softaid is concerned, if you
Co sider the problems everyone
seems to ha ve in loading games,

A DARK DESIGN

Hello Lllloyd,

I am writing to you •

know) about that bunch of

wafUes down at Design Design.

Why •
name from Crystal? What
happened n
programmers, eg Mei.l
Mottershead and Mh
Horsely, cos f haven't heard of
them since Crystal became
Design Design. Did Big Simon
boot them out (what a hideous
thought)? And what happened
to Return of the Things?

What do you gel if you cross
Big Simon wiiti a Qgri
Answer: a Thick Gorilla!

Sarrousiy, is it just Biq Simon
and Graham .left at Design
Design, or have ifted

other walfies? How p

: and still mi
to sell games? ts Dark Star really
that good? Is Big Simon re
that big? As big as 'Kevin 1
Why am I asking all these stupid

• i oris?
Andrew Cordon, Clophif l,
Bedfordshire

herf is lot together,

ham Stafford

waltzed if) with 1 ■ rkmg

> f Design Design's n,

t suppose it isn't surprising that
a compilation tape would only

from the horses mouth fs
speak j: Cwysta) became DD

es with

Neil is
king (would you believe ft?}

some highly secret work
banks (keep your eye
then dek horror

■

to Return; yes:

r ? Cfr ' ;$, although

they , vord'loo'

ftp Johnny Huntley, 1/1/
andPsiino, dot

atfvi

theAmstraei-if)d'\w Na K 1 .

K there am we or

nned
toefon

R u n; yes, Simon is Rb"A L t

Storm*

■isibihfyforthi:
my an

my. back as 1 wi
LM

multiply those problems.
LM

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CRASH August 1<

MORE FAIRS

Dear LJoyd,

1 wish to see a ZX Microfair in the
South West, or else me and my
army will get angry and say rude
words. I cannot visit the fa
London as I am only an
underpaid and overworked
paperboy (I'm sure you'll
sympathise, Lloyd),

I also wish to know if I can
order software from a previous
edition of your magazine via
your mail order service,

not writing a lot as I can't
spell anyfmk write!
Truk, Wembury. Devon

Can 7 help o ver the Micro fairs,
I'ni afraid, as they're nothing to
do with us. As to the ma/'f order,
you can order anything you lite
as fang as it hasn 't been tfe
by the software house. Mail
order queen, Carol Kinsey, WW
try and get anything going (well
she has to}.
LM

ADVENTURE HELP

Dear Lloyd,

Just a note to say I'd like to offer

help with adventures — if

anyone would like to write to me

at 33 Glenburn Road, Uitenard,

Northern Ireland.

Darren Mill in

You don t know what you're
letting yourself in for!
LM

RESTRAIN OU

Dear Lloyd,

I am writing to complain about
that naughty man, Oliver (I like
drawing nude women! Fray.

I am referring to issue 17 of
CRASH, page 1 1 5 where at the
bottom of the page he drew a
topless mermaid, I had to rip
CRASH out of my younger
brother's hands, risking torn
pages, but luckily CRASH
escaped unscathed. Which is
more than can be said for my
brother's wandering mind!

I also distinctly remember
somebody else writing in, in an
earlier issue, to complain about
Oli's revealing drawings. Please

restrain Oli when his mind goes

wandering — it will save a lot of

embarrassment.

Richard Cullen, Leeds, Yorkshire

fs that a wandering or a

wondering mind your brother
has? Oddly, you don't seem to
have objected to the naked
Frankies on the cover of the
same issue!

THE GAME'S UP

Dear Lloyd/Robin Mangram/
Candy,

THE GAME'S UP, I've found out,
Lioyd Mangram and Robin
Candy are one and the same.
The nasty comments between
the two {make that one) are a
dead giveaway. If they were
different people how could they
fit the comments into the middle
of each other's articles?

It was just a cover, And isn't it
handy how Lloyd hates having
his photo taken, and the only
one of Robin is blurred? Why
this double identity, you ask.
Well, two people means two pay
cheques . . . whoever this
mystery person is, he sure is
greedy!

Marcos 'Sherlock' Sullivan,
Bristol

Sorry, Marcos 'Lestrade of the
Yard ' Sullivan, you couldn 7 be
further from the truth. For one
thing Robin is a mere slip of a
Ludtow school boy aged 15
(just) and that 'blurred'
photograph is a piece of graphic
art (supposed to be more
'groovy' than a normal pic). As
for fitting comments into each
other's articles — okay then, I
own up, I have been fibbing a bit
(shock horror), I don't really
have to write on a 1$22 Hermes
typewriter all the while, but
what's worse, (have to share an
Apricot computer with the
Candy man. When he comes in
after school he looks at any of
my files and adds things to
them, so I'm forced to return the
compliment when fget the
chance, which isn't that often,
because I'm not in the CRASH
Towers that often. So there.
LM

I received three excellent cartoons this month. Thh one'*
from OLIVER ROBERTS, Aldershot, Hants. I think it's gnat.

-<%&

m

_jp \ *mk J \ &_

THE Oil -BUGS GET

FIT J

Dear Lloyd,

You never print any letters from
girls in your magi Don't you get
any? I wrote one and you never
printed it, and it was better than
most of the rubbish you print!
Don't ignore this letter.

Anyway, your mag is great.
Lisa Gittins

Nope, I never print letters from
girls — next complaint . . .

Greetings LM,

As you may or may not know.
Micron et has just launched the
amazing Gallery service on page
323, Th is al lows the users to edit
their own frames (up to 26) and
have them displayed in their
own mini database.

Having got my grubby paws
on a few pages the big question
was 'what do I put up?'. The
answer came to me in a flash.
With the start of your Comms
section in Tech Niche, there will
be a host of new users who will
be logging on to the Net to see
what they are missing.

With this in mind, I have
decided to launch a Spectrum
new users section, to help with
any problems that new users
may encounter, At the time of
writing, the pages only contain
Diplomacy news but I hope to
have the new pages up by the
timethisis printed. My area ison '
323000054 and any requests for
help can be sent to me on my
MBX number 014453676,
addressing their messages to
Dark Star
Daniel Merchant

If! understood the first thing
you're saying, I'd answer it t

Dear Lloyd,

I'm just writing, miserable kil Ijoy

that I am, to complain.

Great Mag, yes {I even have a
regular order at the newsagent] .
But one thing mars my
enjoyment of the best 95 pence-
worth on the market The Hall

of Sfimel

Who are these posers? Why
do we need a list of every game
they've ever played? Why not
lust a simple high score chart?
Why don't ships sail off the end
of the world? Why isn't Eugene
Evans {remember him) Prime
Minister? How about a T-Shirt?
D Green

Oh look here now, I've already i
said I might do something about
the Halt o f Slime, what more can I
an underpaid minion do?! As to
your other questions, I know I'm
amazing (get off the keyboard
Rob in I, but I've never won
Mastermind you know.
LM

Dear Lio>

I think CRASH is an excellent

magazine, but I have an

improvement you could make.

Put in the back of your magazine

a list of all the software

available for the 16 and 48K

Spectrum, also showing price,

CRASH Rating and the

Producer,

Mark Dawson, Woodbridge,

Suffolk

In early editions of CRASH we
had something called 'The
Living Guide ', which did all the
things you have just mentioned,
but ft took up so much room we
had to stop it. There was always
a plan afoot to reinstate it, but
the longer it was left, the more
frightening the volume oi work
looked) I'm not saying your
suggestion is a bad idea, just
that it would look so boring. Still
— another upwardly mobile
suggestion perhaps . . ,

Okay, that's it for this month—
famous Lloyd Mangram Outro
time, otherwise known as 'The
Show Robin Candy How to
Write a Good Bye Line' time.
Goodbye.

Lloyd Mangram is a division of
Candy Incorporated, and can be
reached by writing to CRASH
FORUM, PO BOX 10, LUDLOW,
SHROPSHIRE SYS 1DB — or via
our Micron et MBX {see
masthead).

BUT MOT WITHOUT,,,

conSEGHiENcESl

56 CRASH August 1985

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iinwnii"" 11111

from ROBIN CANDY

Another month has passed and that means that I must think up a
couple of totally boring paragraphs that pass as an intro fust to
please the powers that be (incidentally the powers that be have
now defected to Zzapl, I always knew that there was something
strange going on when I noticed that the offices were gradually
being taken other by alien items — namely CBM 64s — and I caught
Lloyd Mangram talking to Mark Roberts the other day about what
prize he would want for letter of the month). The Minttips dept has
finally got off the ground: even though it is a bit small this month 1
expect it to grow to about a quarter of the Playing Tips.

Once again the Playing Tips are under attack (see Forum) but I'm
sure many of you would agree that it is quite nice to have reason-
ably up to date tips, pokes and maps. I try not to give the whole
game away in one month because that isn't fair to the software
companies, but what do you do when some people are crying out
for MORE up to date tips while others are complaining that you are
too up to date?

At the time of writing (30th June, a Sunday, after dinnor and
almost 3pm) there don't seem to be any problems (touch wood)
with the pokes that were published in issue 18, and hopefully the
ones published this month will be okay. This month's intro doesn't
seem to be as big as last month's but I hope the stacks of tips and
pokes will make up for it, Just before the main bulk of the tips start I
want to say publicly that I was promised a new Playing Tips logo for
this month (Derek Brewster gets new Signpost logos almost every
other month) but I won't know whether or not I've got one until you
read this. (Oh get on with it— Ed}

FINDERS KEEPERS

These tips were sent in by C
Ferguson of Bournemouth and
they detail how to escape from
the castle.

All you have to do to escape is
to collect the sulphur, charcoal
and the magic flame. The magic
flame can be found through a
purple door in the cold upper
maze. Next enter the green
door, which is further up the
road and you can buy sulphur
off Anna the trader, Now go to
the bottom left comer of the
maze and go through the white
teleport, You should now be in
the Slimy lower maze and just
above you is a golden door. Go
through the golden door and
you should be in Gort the
trader's room where you can
buy charcoal and a trans mat
key. Now go to the nearby trans
mat room and get teleported

back to the teleport room in the
castle. From here go to the big
puss without boots. Drop the
charcoal and the sulphur on the
saltpetre and then drop the
magic flame. The cat will now
disappear thus allowing you to
escape,

WRIGGLER

For those of you who can get
your copy of Wriggler to load
here are some tips as sent in by
S Lawry (address missing).

GARDEN

Go to the screen with the
clockwork spider, then go up
and up again. Now go right
under the marble but look out
for the spider. Next go down
and then left to collect the
object there, continue left and
follow the ant. Then go down
and then right. On the screen

DYNA MITE

58 CRASH August 1985

«<£

with the two clockwork spiders
take the bottom right passage
then go down and then left. Get
the abject and you should be in
the scrublands but watch out
for the nearby white ant,

SCRUBLANDS

Watch out for the spider in this
area. There are lots of objects
here so get your energy up to
maximum before proceeding
Try and took out for the small
worm like objects — these are
extra lives. Now go and look for
the entrances to the
underground. If you cannot find
them then just follow these
directions, From the screen with
the Scarecrows go down and
then right. Don't go through the
screen with the wasp. Keep on
going right, past the vertical
entrance to the underground
end on the next screen go up
and then right because there is
an object. Now go back and

continue going right. Soon you
will find a screen with an
entrance. Go right past this on
to the next screen and collect
the object then return to the
screen with theentranceandgo
down it.

UNDERGROUND
When you get to the vertical
shaft don't go down. Fall down
onto lower passage and go right
but watch out for the ant.
Balance so that neither the ant
or the spikes can get you and
when the time is right wriggle
onto the moving floor. Now
carry on until you get to the
shaft. Go down the shaft until
you get to the wasp screen. Go
right to get the object and then
go back again. Start falling
again. Don't bother about the
spiders too much. On the next
screen go right and down. Get
off the spiders screen quickly
and go right. Watch out for the

wasps and the drips and keep
on going until you get to the
room wfth the rising head and
moving floor. Balance on the
head until the head and floor are
together then move right
picking up any objects on the
way. When you get to the
screen that has the head and
exits leading up and left, go up.
Carry on for a few more screens
and you are in the basement.

BASEMENT AND LIFT SHAFTS
When you get to the lift shaft
wait for the lift and then use the
small colour coded map which
tells you where the keys are. To
control the lift use up and down.
Always drop the key after you
have used it to open a door.

When getting key 4 use the
moving floor until you fall off.
and be ready with the 'pick up'
as there is an object to collect as
you fall. Wait for the ant to go to
the left of the screen then fall
down and move right. When
you get to the moving floor
again, balance on the rock and
as the floor moves underneath
fall down on to the moving
floor, but watch out for the
spaceships.

After opening door 8 use the
moving floor hut watch out for
the snake and the drips. On the
next screen go down and then
go right to end up in a screen
with a red blockade. You should
have now finished the race and
you will be told your finishing

DAN start

«&

CRASH August 1985 59

position in relation to the other
maggots.

GENERAL TIPS
The best objects to collect are
food and extra lives. Don't
bother collecting grave stones,
parachutes or the skeleton keys.

BRIAN BLOODAXB

For those of you who are
looking for the Holy Grail and
the Golden Seat of Power

Matthew Newman of
Cambridge provides us with the

THE HOLY GRAIL
When you have found the
Crown jewels you should
proceed to the snooker room
and go left. if the Holy Gra'rl isn't
in here it will be in the room
above one with the tank,
scissors. 3 baddies and 2
bunnies, in the room with the
ship. Once you have the Holy
Grail you must take it back to
the room with the angel and the
message 'Bring it hither'. Now
you should get a message to go
and find the golden seat of
power,

THE GOLDEN SEAT OF POWER
Go to the room to the right of
the snooker room and it is in the
bottom left hand corner.
Normally the seat is white but
you can't pick it up until you
have got the Holy Grail. Once
you have got the golden seat of
power take itto the well and
jump down it to complete the
game.

STARION

These anagrams and passwords
for Starion were sent in by Tim
Dawson of Famham Common.
He did send in the solution but it
is too much to print atl in one go.
For the first time readers Block 1
Grid 1 can be found in issue 15,
Just one last word before the
secrets are revealed please
don't send in any more Starion
solutions!

BLOCK 1 GRID 2

AD 1588: ARMADA— Drake

bowls out the Spanish

AD 1815: WELLINGTON— Duke

gets his feet muddy at Waterloo

AD 0814: EGBERT— Name him

king of all England

AD 1883: KRAKATOA— Big

bang breaks Indonesian toe

AD 1776: SEAL— Endorse the

Declaration of Independence

AD 1587: AXE— Get Mary ahead

i n Liz's chopping basket

AD 1764: COAL— What's fuel for

60 CRASH August 1985

James' steam engine

AD 1086: PREFACE— Begin the

Domesday 8ook

AD 1965. LEONOV— Weightless

walker

GRID PASSWORD:

SPACEWALK

BLOCK 1 GRID 3

AD 1924: HITLER— Author of

Mein Kampf

AD 1783: BALLAST— Weigh the

first balloon

AD 1879: LAMP— Edison said

'Let there be light'

AD 1942; ATOM— Fermi's doing

the splits

AD 1547: IVAN— The Terrible

Czar

AD 1982: SPECTRUM—

Sinclair's colour baby

AD 1901: S— Marconi's signal

across the waves

AD 1919: TREATY— Agreement

in Versailles

AD 1889: EIFFEL— He towers

over the World Exhibition

GRID PASSWORD: ESTABLISH

BLOCK 1 GRID 4

AD 1953: EVEREST— Hilary's

lost his mountain

AD 1789: CAKES— The

revolting French are hungry

AD 1840: PENNY— Buy the first

black stamp

AD 1983: AVON— Thrust two

without Blake's engine

AD 1986: HALLEY— Bill's comet

BC 2222 UMBRELLA— Noah's

getting wet

AD 1888: RUBBER— Erase

Dun lop's pneumatic tyre

AD 1896: AERIAL— Marconi's

washing his radio

AD 1565: TOBACCO— John

Hawkins ss smoking

GRID PASSWORD:

PARACHUTE

BLOCK 1 GRID 5

AD 1885; PETROL— Karl Benz's

car won't start

BC0219: ALPS— Hannibal's

elephants are here

AD 0982: ERIC— Red man finds

green land

AD 2001 : ODYSSEY— A space

AD 1949: NATO— An organised

treaty in the North Atlantic

AD 1898: RADIUM— Curried

discovery

AD 1959: HAWAII Grass skirts

in the fiftieth state

BC 0035: ASP— Bites Cleopatra

in the milky w.-iv

AD 1895: GILLETTE— Invents

the safety razor

GRID PASSWORD:

ORPHANAGE

BLOCK 1 GRID 6

AD 0079: VESUVIUS— She

blows her top over Pompeii
BCG064: NERO— He fiddles
while Rome burns

AD 1897; ELECTRON— J J

Thompson's single charge

AD 1869: TABLE— Rest for

Me ndeleyev's periods

AD 1867: ALASKA— America's

bargain from Russia

AD 1944: D— Big Day in

Normandy

AD 1999: ECLIPSE—

Momentary darkness, just, in

Cornwall

AD 1871 : RIBBONS— FA cup is

undressed

AD 1945: URANIUM—

Ingredient of the atom bomb

GRID PASSWORD:

ADVENTURE

BLOCK 1 GRID 7

AD 1773: TEA— Getting thirsty

at Boston pa rty

AD 1867: NOBEL— Dynamite

without rinq

AD 1756: CALCUTTA— This

black hole is in India

AD 1851: EXHIBIT— Show off

great crystals at the palace

AD 1812: CANNON— Overture

noise makers

AD 1922: INSULIN— Pancreas

gives a hope for diabetics

BC 0163: ROSETTA—

Hieroglyphic stone for Ptolemy

AD 1997: CHINA— Hong Kong
takes the slow boat
AD 1042: EDWARD— He
confesses to being crowned
GRID PASSWORD: ECCENTRIC

BLOCK 1 GRID 8

AD 1796: NEEDLE— Jenners

cowpox pricker

AD 1912: ICEBERG— Titanic

needs a target

AD 1969: EAGLE— Big bird

gives a giant leap for mankind

AD 1920: CRASH— Black

Tuesday in Wall street

AD 1066: ARROW— One in the

eye for Harold

AD 1953; ORB— The Queen

shall have a ball

BC 0543: TRIANGLE—

Pythagoras has some squares

AD 1492: BAHAMAS— To them

he sails the Ocean blue

AD 0004: MANGER— What a

messrah — no crib for a bed

GRID PASSWORD:

COMBINATE

BLOCK 1 GRID 9

AD 1911: POLE— Amundsen's

southern flag holder

BC0044: IDES— Caesar beware

the fifteenth of March

AD 1805: NELSON— A hardy

man dies at Trafalgar

AD 1969: BOOM— Concorde

goes supersonic

AD 1900: HYDROGEN—

Zepplin'sgas

AD 1454: INK — Guttenburg's

Bible is too faint

AD 1837: MORSE— Dashed

clever telegraph man

AD 1914: ARCHDUKE—

Ferdinand shot dead without his

title

AD 1682 : APPLE— Newton sees

the fruits of gravity

GRID PASSWORD; AMPHIBIAN

BLOCK PASSWORD:

AEROSPACE

ROCKYHORROR
SHOW

Martin Stokes of Solihull sent in
these tips to betp you complete
the game. Has anyone seen the
CBIW version? It is enough to
make you feel sorry for them

Around the house you will find
many keys, these keys open any
door. Also you will find small
flashing brick- like things which
are parts of the De-Medusa
machine. With one of these
bricks go to the room with a big
curtain in it and walk up to the
curtain. The curtain will now
rise and reveal the De -Medusa
machine and your friend. Place
the part you have collected onto
the De-Medusa machine and
then go and look for another
piece.

Whenever the temperature
gauge reaches 0, Eddie the mad
biker thaws out and proceeds to
race around the house and
occasionally knocks you down.

lla-a'i f. t J OTF:) ll! ~> ni < iTK«Kl (TTiTTi 1

to the freezer room and press

HmfFTRilliM?

problem is getting there, Go to
the top floor and into the room
with the energy. Now climb up
the ladder and press the button
at the top — you will have to
pass the energy beam quickly
while rt is switched off
otherwise you will be killed. Go
left through Frank n' Putter's
laboratory and then through the
next room as well. You will then
be in the freezer room. A quick
way to escape from here is to go
back into the next room and
press the button that says
Don't Press the' twice — this
will transport you back to a
room on the ground floor.

When you bump into
characters they will say lines
from the film but other than that
they rarely harm you, but
sometimes they take your

I'iI»l<lT-T:tVJ fPfc T\

when you collect the object that
looks like a brain. Beware of the
butler, Riff Raff, because he fires
lasers at you when you are on
screen

"ALIEN 8", "KNIGHTLORE ', "UNDERWURLDE" and "SABRE WULF" recommended retail
price £9.95 inc VAT. Available from W.H.SMITHS, BOOTS, JJPIENZIES, WOOLWORTHS

and all good software retail outlets. Also available from
ULTIMATE FLAY THE GANE, The Green, Ashbyde-la-Zouch, Leicestershire LE6 5JU

(P&P are included) Tel: 0530 411485

jjjj,„,miii.n"''"

MINITIPSDEPT

This section hasn't had time to
take off properly yet but here
are a few m initios I've received
this month.

SPVHUNTER

James Beaumont of

st follow
i j will

• down and

' i

ifyc '.■;. then you Will
ii>on.

Matthew Rogers of

ed a
I ■"■ weapon;-

i van
ashing up. The i
v start ton

j this
u will never crash bui
- snag; whei

you will have to - moot

";t you can

' o higher le

r-rar.

AIRWOLF

Andrew Hann is of New

en you go lo shoot or
the power boxes to op*

These tips sent in by Neil
Pearson of Keigbley should help
you when bargaining with the
other dealers in Minder. They
tell you what time each dealer
will be at their lockups.

8am; Waring

Barm Waring/ Page/ TonickV

Watt

10am: Page/ Tonick/ Watt

11am: Page/ Tonick/ Watt

12noon; Tonick

1prn: Tonick/ Carr

2pm: Tonick /Oddgood

3pm: Takeall/ Tonick/ Carr

4pm: Tonick/ Oddgood

5pm Waring/ Carr

6pm; Waring/ Can-
Waring/ Carr
Carr

9pm:

Bott
Batt

T2midmght Bott
3ott
When a dealer isn't in his

lockup he will be at the

Winchester Club.

64 CRASH August 1985

lUtOf

the

x has magically
reappear ow

ja«n to gel some more
ou keep repeating this

iid up
some really hiu

SHORT FUSE
From Justin Cade of Siaii
necessary codes to .;?
- are;
1000
2 367
3157
4049
5 281

DOOMDARK'S REVENGE
From Michael Evers of Ab

vjd In a saved aa;
lords of M^r

; get
opening.

which is in the NE corner of

fl Kirk.

KN1GHTL0RE

David Morhz of Harrow

W: i om

drop any e
the cauldron will nt}\rvr come out

i

"'"ill 5

-' oan walk around ihe
jom when ever you
wish even if yoi volf.

DECATHALON

Ho ha jr#ss

When a game has en dec
press a number from to 9 and
you should then restart the
game with three athletes

means you
wish
but after a while the qualifying

BRUCE LEE

From Gordon Mackay of

On screen 15 of the CRASH
map in issue 16 the.ro are two
flashing yellow halls. If yc I
up to then i

'aw go out of the room and
rer and do the same 1

segi :estoget

extra I

WIZARD'S LAIR

From Simon Hayward of

Stockport

i idition to the levels

i Tips there is 3i
level called LYONS. You have to

ou have aot all
tne pieces of the golden! n

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE
From Simon Hayward of

There are two cities in this

Pame, To get the r p ress

and with your finger still on P
press Caps Shift and you will get
i speech marks. Now
enter in caps SPACEMAN

(sometimes you hav
more than once for. i i
o accept it i

•v have a to :
difft

VEGAS JACKPOT

Afistair Mills of Davei

■won sn
amount of morn

be success! u I . I ><y on

the keyboard and you would
have either won or Iqs
have won then take your f mger
off the Keyboard and repi? >
again. If you have lost trier i
your finger off the ki? ,
holding down then quickly
G and you will afways win
rne«3 r ■■■ iy lime. you win

some money you can easily
gamble il up to the two pounds
jackpot.

STARSTRIKE

The Realtime mafia have at last
forced me to publish this tip; I
have had rt for months but I
keep forgetting to put into the
tips section. Before I forget
again here i

First of alf pause the game
now type in ; wanna*,
eomptete with spaces. Now you
should have an infinite supply of
shields, ff this gets a bit be:
then you can switch the cheat
mode off by pausing the game
aaain and typing 'boring ' on the
keyboard.

SYSTEM 15000

For those of you who are
puzzling over System f 5000 you
can use these tips sent in by
Ma Urn Barrio of Rhuddfan to
complete the game.

First of all you must phone the
reserve Manhattan Bank, The
number to use is 010-1(212)-
976-5757. Please note that it is
an American phone number so
the dialing tone is different.

Now you must enter the bank
code which is M8R. Then the
transfer code TFTB24 to transfer
from VINCHETTAto COMDATA.
The bank is MIDMINSTER, the
amount $1500000 and the
transfer code 21 75.

The program now confirms
the transfer and you have
completed the game,

DUNDARACH

These tips were compiled with
the help of Michael Mitchell,
Gary Macintosh both of
Morayshire, Keith Walker of
Birmingham, Kevin Penton of

Situations Vacant

WANTED

COMBAT READY
STARFIGHTER PILOTS

GLASS Rating over 100K mandatory.

Become a GAME LORD and save the
human race. Standard bounties apply.

C ontact: Captain Quicksilva,

GLASS,

Alpha 3,

j5ofel|cll

mtue

- :r 'EaRUM£fi.93

MSk

Horning low, Craig Rogers of
Hayes and . , . myself .

To f i nd Teth you must first go to
the Old Quarter and buy or steal
a statue. Now take this to the
Soke or Ratha de and follow the
rat that wanders the streets. In
Claw Lane the rat will disappear
— for a few seconds stand on
the spot that it disappeared
from and press Enter; you will
now be in Darach Down, Inside
Darach Down is Teth, Give Teth
the statue and in return he will
give you the d — key; this

POKES CORNER

Here at long last ere the results
of the : Hie to

3 few
pokes can I

r ectform}
and space permitting some
more pokes will be printed next
month.

WINNERS

1st Phil Churchyard of

Grantham

2nd Paul Stephenson of Leeds

3rd Steven Giiham of Lyil

The three runners up were:
Howard Grist of She-
R Robinson of Barnsbury
Jonathon Hatcri
Bournem

TECHNICIAN TED

These pokes were sent in by the
winner of the competition F

Churchyard

10 CIS RESTORE
20 LET TOT = 0: FOR I - 23296
TO 23467: READ A: POKE LA:
LET TOT= TOT ■+■ A: NEXT I
30 IF TOT <> 16121 THEN
PRfNT "ERROR IN DATA ! !
BEEP 1,0: STOP
40 PRINT AT 0,0; "START
TECHNICIAN TED TAPE"
50 RANDOMIZE USR 23296
1000 DATA 221, 33, 0, 0, 17
1010 DATA 17. 0,62, 0,55
1020 DATA 205, 86, 5, 221, 33
1030 DATA 203, 92, 17, 224, 2
1040 DATA 62, 255, 55, 205, 86
1050 DATA 5, 33, 96, 91. 17
1060 DATA 182, 94, 1,32,0
1070 DATA 237, 176. 62, 195, 50
1080 DATA 195, 131. 33, 147,91
1090 DATA 34. 196, 131, 62, 201
1100 DATA 50, 38, 95, 205, 21
1110 DATA 96. 205. 128, 93 ,49
1120 DATA 0,92, 221, 33,0
1130 DATA 128. 17. 195, 3. 62
1 140 DATA 255, 55, 20. 8, 21
1150 DATA 243, 62 r 15, 211, 254
1160 DATA 33. 0, 128, 229, 219
1170 DATA 254,31, 230, 32, 246
1180 DATA 2, 79, 191, 195, 107

unlocks the door in the castle.

Da inn can be found behind an
invisible door in Park Lane. Give
Dainn a lyre and in return he will
give you the shield Midir Take
this to the room Hail Midir and
place it on the table in there and
you should receive the m — key.
The m — key opens an invisible
door on Cross Street.

Buy a Mole skin from the
skinner and give this to Bran in
return for a map. Now earn
enough money to buy the
Platinum and give this to Bren
for another map and the

1190 DATA
1200 DATA
1210 DATA
1220 DATA
1230 DATA
1240 DATA
1250 DATA
1260 DATA
1270 DATA
1280 DATA
1290 DATA
1300 DATA
1310 DATA
1320 DATA
1340 DATA
1350 DATA

5, 32. 73. 76, 70

73, 78, 73, B4, 69

32,76,73,70,69

32,80,79,75,69

83,32.66,89,32

80,72,73,76,32

32.32.32,32,175

50,114,171,62,195

50,178,172,33,5

173,34,179,172,195

101, 170, 62, 33, 50

64, 140, 33, 189, 77

34,65,140,62,195

50,90,140,33.129

91,34,91,140,196

64,140

HERBERT'S
DUMMY RUN

The next two sets of pokes are
both off the same person; the
CRASH hacker himself Keith
Walker. Just type in the listing
and save it to tape (for future
use), then run the program and
start your Herberts Dummy
I ape. Once the Herbert '$
Dummy Hun tape has loaded
you will have infinite lives

10 CLEAR 65535
20 PRINT AT 9,3; "PLAY IN THE
HERBERT MASTER TAPE"; AT
11, 10. "FROM THE START''
30 RESTORE

40 FOR N - 23296 TO 23321 :
READ A: POKE N,A: NEXT N
50 DATA 221, 033, 000, 000. 017
60 DATA 017, 000. 175, 055, 205
70 DATA 086, 005, 221, 033. 224
80 DATA 252, 017, 063, 002, 062
90 DATA 255, 055, 205, 086, 005
100 DATA 201

110 RANDOMIZE USR 23296
120 POKE 65093, 243: POKE
65100, 190

130 FOR N = 65271 TO 65299;
READ A: POKE N,A: NEXT N
140 DATA 017, 128, 091, 033, 254
150 DATA 083, 026, 174 203. 164
160 DATA 174,203. 228, 018, 043
170 DATA01S, 123, 254, 154, 032
180 DATA 241, 062, 048,050.213
190 DATA 202, 195, 148, 091
200 RANDOMIZE USR 65093

message 'Galacta is far'. Give
this map to Ryde in return for
the shield Belinus. Take this to
the Hail Belinus room and drop
on the table in there in return for
a clue.

To gain as much money as
you wish go to the gambling
nouses inTomain. Now drop all
your money on table B and
press 6 to return to the menu.
Save the game then return back
to where you were. Keep
gambling and saving the game
when you win and reloading a
saved game when you lose. This

NODES OF YESOD

This routine sent in by Keith
Walker gives you the option to
choose whether you want
infinite fives or any number of
lives up to 255. Just type in the
listing and save K to tape. Then
run the program and start your
Nodes of Y&sod tape from the
start.

10 CLEAR 65535

20 RESTORE

30 FOR N -- 23296 TO 23321 :

READ A: POKE N A. NEXTN

40 DATA 221, 033, 000, 000, 017

50 DATA 017, 000, 175, 055, 205

60 DATA 086, 005, 221, 033, ^86

70 DATA 244, 017, 250, 002, 062

80 DATA 255, 055, 205, 086, 005

90 DATA 201

100 PRINT AT413: FLASH 1;

"SELECT"

110 PRINT AT 8,7;

"1 UNLIMITED LIVES"

120 PRINT AT 10,7; "2 NUMBER

OF LIVES"

1 30 PRINT AT 1 5.8; "PRESS KEY

10R2"

140 LET A$ - INKEYS; I FAS - ""

THEN GOTO 140

150BEEP 1.1:IFA$< 'VOflAS

THEN GOTO 140
160 GOTO 100 + 100 * VAL AS
200 RESTORE 1000: CLS
210 GOTO 400
300 RESTORE 2000: CLS
310 PRINT AT 9.2; "ENTER Nos
OF LIVES (1 TO 255)
320 INPUT B$: BEEP .1,1
330 IF B$ - "" THEN GOTO 320
340 FOR C- 1TOLENAS
350IFB$(CK "0"ORB$U
"9" THEN GOTO 320
360 NEXT C

370 LET LIVES- VAL B$
380 IF LIVES < 1 0ft LIVES > 255
THEN GOTO 320
400 CLS

410 PRINT AT9,4; "PLAY IN
NODES MASTER TAPE"; AT
11,10; "FROM THE START"
420 RANDOMIZE USR 23296
430 FOR N =• 63218 TO 63225;
READ A; POKE NA: NEXTN
440 RANDOMIZE USR 63201
1000 DATA 062, 000, 050, 149,

way you can easily build up
enough money to purchase
anything you want.

To speed up the interest rate,
bank some of your money and
then carry out some of the other
tips while it is day (signified by
the torches being out) — press 6
and then 1 , This will take you to
the menu and then back into the
game. When you re-enter the
game the torches will flicker on
and you will collect interest for
the whole day. Using this
method it is possible to get your
1 % interest twice a day.

127

1010 DATA 195, 000, 226
2000 DATA 062, LIVES, OS0, 205
2010 DATA 134, 195, 000, 226

WORSE THINGS
HAPPEN AT SEA

his little routine was supplied by
one of the runners up in the
poke competition. Rowan, i
also supplied several other
routines of which some will be
printed next month.

10 CLEAR 25383: LOAD ""CODE

25384

20 FOR A - 23296 TO 23307;

READ B: POKE A,B NEXT A

30 RANDOMIZE USR 23296:

CLEAR 29999: NEW

40 DATA 17, 48, 117, 1, 194, 101,

33,88,152,237,176,201

When the 'Sinclair Research
Ltd ' message appea rs on sere
then enter these pokes.

POKE 35443,0 for infinite droids
POKE 35303,0: POKE 33221, O
for infinite energy
POKE 30008,201 this stops the
ship from sinking when thereis
too much water in it.

Sadly, I have now filled up my
allotted space for Pokes this
month but hopefully there will
be some more next month.
That seems to be it for another
month and I've just about run
out of things to say (I've just
written the intra you see — I
always write theintro as the
second to last thing I do so that!
know exactly what has gone
into a month's section — clever
eh)? For those of you who
haven't got the address to send
your info to (I've forgotten to
print it in recent months) it is:
ROBIN CANDY'S PLAYING TIPS,
PO BOX 10, LUDLOW,
SHROPSHIRE SY81DB

So get scribbling and wing
your words to me and you never
Know you could win a mega
amaming T— shirt.

68 CRASH August 1985

NICK FALDO

PLAYS THE

Runs on both

Spectrum 4SK

ami CBM64

Accurate \

TO screen \

scrolling map of the

Si. Georges
Golf Course, venue for the
Open Championship l L >85.

Can you make par on this
course of Champions? With strong
winds and deep bunkers you'll need all
ihc help your caddy can give you. Full
animation and live action bring your game to life.

r . . • . f » » < . , . , ,

^i*us Press Snfituircl.td., lihtrix Heminc
222 Regent Street.
Umdi.n WIR 7DB
I'elenhoiu- 01-439 0666

&

w

^ vo

<rt

QTUNE TOP 30 FOR A

/—I SHADOWRRE Beyond
2 (4) EVERYONE'S A WALLY M

4 (2) KNIGHT LORE Ult imate
W BRUCE LEE US G

6 (9) STARfON Melbourn e

7 ( — J SOFT AID Various

8 (17) MO ON CRESTA Inct
/ DUN DARACH Gargo>

CHUC K 1EEGG2A&F
MOLEGr
28 (—) AIR WQLF Elite

(23) PYJAMARAMAMikro G
30 /—) DEATH STAR INTERCEPTOR System 3

month's HOTl I ME draw winner is Simon Law from Canley in
Coventry, and the four runners up are: R Williams from W,;
the West Midlands; WilNam Phipps of Oxford; W G Allen from
Bteckheath in Uoritton and Stephen Graham who hails fro- .
lisle in Cumi

BRILL 'N' FAB HOTLINE PRIZES!!

The GRASH HOTUNE & ADVENTURE CHART is Britain's most
important popularity chart. It depends entirely on your support
and we need your votes. There are two methods for voting,
either use the CRASH HOTLINE PHONE-IN. or cut out the special
coupons which you can find on page

thar you phone or write in. sll the names go into t he Ho

Bag to be drawn monthly First out in both chart* receives £40
WORTH OF SOFTWARE plus a CRASH T-SHIRT. The four
runners up in both charts each receive a CRASH TSHIR1
THREE free issues of CRASH Magazine (a kind of mini-
subscription — existing subscriptions will be appropr
itended) \__

^5?»

ad^^HmSBkHaih-

1 (— I SHADOWFIRE Beyond

2 (4) D OOMPARK'S REVENGE Beyond

EMERALD ISLAND Level 9 ■ Computing
4 (17) COLOSSAL ADVENTURE Level 9 Co mputing

6 (1) DRAGONTORC Hewson Consu ltar

7 (—) WITCHES CAULDRON Mikro

8 (5) LORDS OF MIDNIGHT Beyond

(8) RETURN TO EDEN Level 9 Computin
10 (9) TIR NA NOG Gargoyle Games

(20)

)use

M

SHERLOCK Mefbo ut

AVALON Hewson Consulta nts
/ HOBBIT Melbourne House
18 (—) QUES T FOR TH E HOLY GRAIL C
20 (12) MOUNTAINS OF KE Incentive

CLfcbCAVbUorc
22 (1 6) URBAN UPSTAR T Richard Shepherd
EUREKA? Do

24 (18) TWI N KINGDOM VALLEY Bug By te
HULK Adventure Internatioi

26 (21) GOLDEN APP LE Artie

Melbourne h
28 (30) ESPIONAGE ISLAND A i

30 (—) INCAS CURSE Artie

The ADVENTURE CHART draw produced Stuart Wright. & name

as the over- 1 1 and he comes From Manchester, Stephen

Orchard whose home is in Dinas, N, Arrowsmith of Brandon,
Michael Macadie of Stockton, C level and and S. W. Meale from
.— i : 1 1- i r . • - : ,-ttete thes quintet nf w r> n & rs thi s m ont h by :

i oners uft. Well done, all

Uncle Grouch© Completed, Hidden

Holl y Aiood sta r Mickey Mouse

Atic Atac completed 92%

Trans Tower completed, treasure

found

DTs Decathalon Day 1 IQGmeters

10.94 sees; long jump 9.34m; shot

pull 26m; high jump 2-45m;

400meters 39.46 sees; Day 2

llOmerers hurdles 13.55 sacs; poEe

vault 5.11 m; discus 75.9m; Javelin

70.0 lm; 1500 meters 278. S3 sees

Hobbil Co

Adam Bennett, Charfield, Gloucs

Bruce Lae 30<Q,0Q0*odd. completed
nine times

Raid Over Moscow 1 00,000
Herbert's Dummy Run 35 Jelly

babies

Spiderman completed

Lards of Midnight completed in 24

Avalon completed, supreme lore

seeker

Hulk camp':

Oracles Cave completed

Scott Andrews, Forest Hill, London

Avalon Supreme Lore Seeker

Time Gate 1 3,040

Planetoids 1 85.200

Manic Miner 1 6th level, 22,956

Jetpac 22,670

Cookie Baked cake, 13,280

Football Manawerto p o1 Df*. i s ion One

in 5 seasons, 2 FA a

S Millinship, Arnold, Nottingham

Knightiore completed, 73%, 22 days

Underwurlde completed, 35%,

29,330

Sabre Wulf completed, 63%, 1 15,690

Atic Atac completed, 83%. 30,150

Alien 8 23 rooms activated

Ant Attack completed

Dark Star 29 planets liberated

Manic Miner completed 3 timBS in a

row, eight men left;

Mark Franklin, South Harrow

Tapper 60,000 on easy
Tir Na Nog completed
Alien 8 completed
Underwurlde completed at 64%
Bruce Lee completed ten times
Avalon Apprentice Wise One
Anonymous, but ugly!

Bruce Lee 266,750, wizard killed 5

Sabre WuH 82% completed
Knight Lore 88% completed
Match Day Amateur, won 12-0; pro
won 4-2; International won 5-4
Chequered Flag Cambridge Ring,
50,62 sees; Silverstone 1 ,02 49 sees
Spy Hunter 375.250
Chris Burrow, Basildon

Moon Buggy Completed, 21,000

Everyone s a Walry £7 10, morning

tea break, letters REA

Bugaboo 49 sees

Ouacksho*25,l35

Prtf all 111 37, 160

Stop the Express stopped 3 times

Sorcery compl eted

Helichopper 1 7, 171

Paul Chaney, Bletchley

Atic Atac completed 39%
Underwurlde completed 42%, all

Alien 8 22 chambers activated
Steve Davis 1 14 break
Air Wulf completed 3 times
Hunchback 1 7,250,000
Tir Na Nog completed
Match Day unbeaten on every level
Frank 'N' Stein level 19
Michael Tattersa! I. Barnoldswick

Lunar Jet Man 1 01 ,980

Booty 36 objects

Atic Atac completed 86%

Harrier Attack 31,100

JetPae 168,910

TLL 17,008

A Eckton and J Hush

Chuckie Egg 2 16,000
Atic Atac 82%
Match Day Won FA Cup
Kung Fu Black Belt, level?
Bruce Lee 1,027,350
Pyjamarama 56%
Spy Hunter 238,385
Anthony Clayton, Co Durham

Sabre Wu If completed

Spy Hunter 358,425

Match Day 5 minutes esch wayi

Amateur 1d-0; Pro 12-0; International

8-0

PSSST! 72,820

Pin ball Wizard 14,450

Chuckie Egg 238,280

Ant Attack 10 girls

Booty 40ttems

Neil Baines, Raddiffe

Shadow! ire completed
Lords of Midnight completed
Avalon completed
Dragontorc needy completed
Underwurlde completed
Bruce Lee completed 28 times
Elliott Gates, Southport

Atic Atac completed 98%
Bruce Lee 4 15, 750
Spy Hunter 287,350
Kung Fu Black Bell, level 8
Lords of Midnight completed
Minder £3,472
Raid Over Moscow 209,760
Ian Welter, Glasgow

tJLOVP MANaftAjU'S

HhllfSUaie

***bV

rSfarfv

PSSST! 222,540
Bugaboo 27 seconds
Knightiore completed 80%
Underwurlde completed I
Sabre Wuff completed 1 00%
Pjyamarama completed 89%
Chuckie Egg 395,230 on level 31
Ore Attack 103,436
D Wright, Holywell

dust one day after buying C5 Give, I

completed it getting maximum

points

3 Brooks, Ashton under Lyme

Starstrike 1,814.000
Ad Astra 52.400, 24m 59s
Atic Atac 25%, 3m 26s
Invasion of Body Snatches 2,850
Colin Lockhard, Forbes Australia

Gift from the Gods completed

Sta rstrike 987 , 1 00 from L l

Sabre Wulf completed 35%

Spy Hunter 11 8,765

Booty 65 objects

Ant Attack completed, 22,615

Cyclone 2,050

TLL 9,666

Douglas Ross, Manchester

TU. 3,902

Spy Hunter 462,620

FullThrottle 1st at Silverstone
Hunchback II level 6
Dangermouse in Double Trouble
14,700, saved the world three times
Kung Fu Black Belt, Level 2, 362
Barry Mansfield, Sidcup

3D Starstrike 1.043. 200 on easy
Spy Hunter 70,655 on expert
Bru<;e Lee 302,300
Pyjamarama 56%

Jet Set Willy completed, with unlim-
ited lives poke (')
Andrew Wright, Portsmouth

Raid Over Moscow comp

137.000

Pyjamarama completed, 88%

Herberts Dummy Run completed 30/

5/85, 92 jelly babies I finished aft^r 4

hou rs — it was a cinch

Full Throttle 1st at Silverstone

Hunchback II Level 5

Match Day beaten on all levels

Atic Atac compdeted

Janne Jarvis

Bruce Lee 279,300, completed 5

times

River Raid 51,520

Jet Pee 101,430

Darrell Edon

Brian Jacks Superstars 1 353 on level

five

Beach Head 121 ,300 completed

World Cup completed 15 limes

Kokatoni Wilf completed

Ant Attack 7 people rescued

Mark Leonard, Ely, Cambs

Supermutt10O%
Mad Martha finished
Zlg 2ag 19,074
Pyramid 75,000 approx
Starstrike 800,000 approx
Philip Doyle. Hornsey, London

Sabre Wutf completed
Automania 4 cars built
Trashman Grove Street
Androids 4sheets
Match Day 4-2 in final
S Blewett. Hay le, Cornwall

Bruce Lee 1,329,700
Starstrike 593.100
Beach Head 69,800
Booty 66 pieces of booty
Brian Bloodaxe 18,400
Mr Wimpy 28,870
Mutant Monty 24,482
Andrew Upton, Birkenhead

W-

72 CRASH August 1

**

There's never been a computer game like Ghostbusters,

It's broken all records, not just in the UK but around the world

If you don't have yours already, don't panic.

Just get on down to your local software store.

Ghostbusters is there, ready and waiting.

Available on Commodore 64 cassette and disk, Sinclair

Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad and AHC Disk,

ACXI VISION

HOME COMPUTER SOFTWARE.

AVAILABLE FROM SELECTED BRANCHES OF BOOTS, WH SMITH, JOHN MENZJES, LASKY'S, SPECTRUM, RUMBELOWS WOOLWORTH

AND GOOD COMPUTER SOFTWARE STORES EVERYWHERE """«"«», wuulworth

!

i

THE STUFF OF LEGENDS?

In which our intrepid Software Editor The Rt Hon Spencer

sails his Morgan to the shores of Chingford in search

of John Peel, Legend, and Kompiex City. . . .

Onaaa *^^o^^

*"**«* * to Chmgfyrt

AS I WEAVE through the pot-
hole ridden streets of North East
London I note, a little cynically
perhaps, that it seems strange
that Legend have a London
phone number and yet are not
actually in the London A to 2, It
sums them up rather well. I don't
care what you say John, Ching-
ford is not in my *A-Z', (and for
the record it's not in the 'ABC
either). So begins the first argu-
ment of the day. Having spent
the greater part of the morning
touring the outskirts of The
Smoke — in a hot and dusty
Morgan accompanied by an
equally hot, and very nearly as
dusty dog — I am miffed to be
told on eventual arrival that if
Legend isn't on the map then the
map is wrong,

Legend have acquired a repu-
tation for hype, not in itself a Bad
Thing, as long as the product
hyped is up to it. The Great
Space Race is game that
damned them most of all. John
believes that Legend was unfort-
unate to have made some very
bad mistakes. Just at the time
when the public were waking to
the reality of the Imagine fiasco,
Legend was branded with the
same iron. Producing a camera,
he admits to mismanagement of
the Space Race project, and
points to the hazards of a dis-
loyal programming team. Two
elements that made The Great
Space Race such a flop. What-
ever you believe about that era.
there remains one truth — Imag-
ine have gone but Legend are
still, very much, in the game.

John Peel starts photographing
me.

The invitation to spend the
day trying to find Chingford
came about because Legend
had something very important
which they wanted to share,
with us, and the rest of the
world. Kompiex City was near-
ing completion. I decide I want
to go home. I have to admit I
wasn't one of the thousands
who, John assures me, raved
over Kompiex. I could wonder at
the technical excellence of the
graphics and even find myself
inspired by the size and compl-
exity of the thing, but the truth
was I was bored, nothing really
seemed to happen, 'Kompiex is
the ultimate mapping game'
says John as he takes yet
another photograph of the dog
— the only one not irritated by
this constant image stealing —
even John's charming wife, Jan
(the Boss) wants to know how
anyone can avoid thumping
him? 'Kompiex is only the
beginning', he assures me, in
between snapping the dog. The
beginning of what John?

It seems that Kompiex is the
first part of a trilogy. Part one
was the Ultimate mapping
game'. The second part, Kom-
piex City, is to be one of the most
exciting and graphically perfect
arcade games available. The
second game is still based
around a map, but this time the
computer takes care of the dir-
ectional side of life leaving you
to find the letters and shoot the
baddies. Part 2, in terms of

the discovery of Chingford and I
haven't seen a thing yet. I still
want to go home. How about it?
We argue again. How about a
peek through the crack in the
wall John? We argue, More very
well rotted grape juice slides
down throats and in the end he
decides to compromise. He'll
take the dog for a look and, if
things are going well and the
dog is impressed, perhaps 1 can
have a look.

John gone, I turn to Jan and
we chat, discussing just about
everything — except this game
and the successor to Vafha/ia.
She is keeping very mum on that
one,

John returns and explains that
the demonstration is just about
ready, soon, Peel willing, I will
have a chance to see what all the
other software houses said
could not be done . . , real time
animated 3D full colour graphics
without attribute dash. It is
Chingford Discovery, T plus
Four and a Quarter, and I am
getting close. While I wait, trying
to ignore John's insults, I quietly
ponder the idea of a world with-
out attribute problems . . .
imagine, Ever/ones a Waify
without ail of those funny flash-
ing squares — sounds very
tempting, but can this chap do
it?

At Chingford Discovery T plus
Five I wonder if I will see any-
thing. Suddenly the phone
rings. John, surprised, drops his
camera and takes a photo of his
foot, Jan picks up the receiver,
she listens intently. And calmly
announces that Colin has got a
cold but he's as ready as he'll
ever be. Panic, did she mean that
Colin has got cold feet and
doesn't want to show me the
graphics? Perhaps he's lost his
voice because at •;> '-old and

won't be able to explain any-
thing and then I , . . Aaargh . . .
the dog's licking my leg.

Wonders will never cease,
here I am at last — ages after
finding Chingford — at the heart
of Legend. John shows me the
main body of the new game. The
graphics are every inch
Kompiex except this time the
player has a view flying down
tunnels, switching from this to
that. There are doors which can
be docked with (automatically
for those who didn't work it out
last time) and enemy objects
that must be shot and destr-
oyed. Fly badly and you bang
and scrape down a tunnel well
— this alerts more and yet
nastier foe to your presence. The
screen displays information
about shield strength, your loc-
ation, location of targets — it all
looks very busy indeed.

John explains that there is a
faster way of getting from one
location to another: hyperspace.
He leads me to another Spec-
trum still being fed with fresh
hot code, via an umbilical cord
trailing from a BBC. Fed with
bytes, the Spectrum screen
bursts into life. That's what
hyperspace will have, only more
and better'. Different coloured
objects, some box shaped
others cylindrical, iris in and out
while they rotate in 3D. They
pass in front of or behind each
other with no flicker and not a
single attribute clash. John
looks as if he has discovered the
philosopher's stone. It may not
be the stuff that legends are
made from but it should certain-
ly put them on the map. Find out
next month if I was had or not.

(NOTE: CRASH would like to
apologise to those readers who
may five in Chingford for it's
absence from our reference
works. The art department
would like to correct the situa-
tion and would appreciate your
help: Write to 'I know where
Chingford is', CRASH Micro, PO
Box 10, Ludlow, Shropshire,
SY81DB.)

74 CRASH August 1985

Hi *SftPm

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Yen, it's me, your favourite Superstar, in my first supa game! Ill
need all your help to find my furry friends in the nasty Rodent World where all kinds of monster meanies
live. Hurry now, and III see you on your screen, from your cuddly, adorable me. Roland Rat Superstar

M*™-"**' COMMODORE**

•H790

0tcju '' 1 ' ' '-':•.••-■,.,•, r-1.' ■.,-)•-. .;,;,,„,. i.,',! a3?66j 3 Telex 669977

HA vE A l ^0CD°LoPO | - ,SE

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CRASH August 1985 77

ieving

This is "the' FMllllfiMH Pi iPO t UlK-

Ly clean compartment dazziingiy
painted <dh i te . <n, e ,uj
X can a Lao sec r -
HEDICINS CABINET

five me your command,
have with me : -
LARGE UESETflBLE STRAINER (worn)
PORTABLE URCUUM CLEANER

'm ready for your instructions.

£

SUBSUNK Adventure with Graphics

Trapped on the sea bed in a scuppered submarine

SHORTS FUSE Arcade/Strategy

Sam Short secret agent versus Boris and his bombs

o— ^-ifeitti^ie-^

DQNT PANIC Arcade/Strategy

Amusing and challenging, a game with a difference

DONT BUY THIS! Compilation

Five of the worst games you have ever seen

FIREBIRD SILVER CATALOGUE

CTRUM 16K/4&K.
036 RUN BABY RUN Arcade

Multi-car cop chase and shoot-out
035 DONT RANIC Arcade/Strategy

Amusing and challenging, a game with a difference

SPECTRUM 4BK

MB VIKING RAIDERS War Game

A test of strategy against the computer or friends
012 THE WILD BUNCH Strategy/Adventure

Accused of murder, hunt the real killer
014 MR FREEZE Arcade/Strategy

Six compartments, each tougher to de-ice

016 BOOTY Arcade/Adventure

Twenty holds full of pirate toot
031 SUBSUNK Adventure with Graphics

Trapped on the sea bed in a scuppered submarine
033 THE HELM Adventure

An amusing, stylish text adventure

036 SHORTS FUSE Arcade/Strategy
Sam Short secret agent versus Boris and his bombs

037 HELICHOPPER Arcade
Fast and smooth multi -screen action

040 DONT BUY THIS Compilation

Five of the worst but funniest games you have ever seen
043 FAHRENHEIT 3000 Arcade/Strategy

Sixty four screens to meltdown

MAILORDER

Please state name of game (and machine) and
numbers required. Enclose crossed cheque/PO
made payable to FIREBIRD SOFTWARE All offers
are subject to availability Orders are despatched
promptly. All prices inclusive of VAT and postage.

MAIL ORDER: *FREEPOST FIREBIRD,
WELUNGTON HOUSE,
UPPER ST. MARTIN'S LANE,
LONDON WC2H9BR

Rretwrti and Ihe Firebtr fll«&go are tfndww&rks ol Srtlsh Tri*comn>unic«l»ona p4c

FIREBIRD SOFTWARE, WELLINGTON HOUSE, UPPER ST MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON WC2H 9DL TEL' 01 -379 6755/5626

1 .? thet > e 9' nmn 9> the C5was meant to be a new concept in persona l transport. In SirClive's
9™ words : as revolutionary in i ts own terms as calculators in the earl y 'WsorhZl

7 ^1 Z T,i:r >V W , W ' S '- A £40 °, Ve h,de Which can be drivs ° "y *nvonlover S JS m
7 XT > " g "f 6nCe ' mad taX ' ™™»> s w 'nsurance or helmet travels »rn„™

TmrnvTbJfoTth-e e qwv alent cost of a .gallon of petr ol and can he ,^!r H J yn ™™

by a travellin g engmeerTSound almost too good to be True? y " ome

Produced by Sinclair Vehic les as the first in a range of ele ctric vehicles thenRie^,™,,^ »

Clive Sinclair's electric
vehicle project started
nearly twelve years ago,
back in 1973 when an fn-
house team of engineers
began looking at the problems
of powering vehicles with elec-
tricity. Serious design work
started in 1981 at Sinclair Res-
earch, and in 1983 Sir Clive
acquired the project personally
from the company, A new comp-
any, Sinclair Vehicles Ltd,
wholly owned and financed by
Sir Clive was set up end moved
to Warwick University's Science
Park to continue development
Work on a range of electric
vehicles.

When the C5 was launched, in
January this year, it was greeted
with interest by the media — h
was fairly common knowledge
that Sir Clive had been working
on an electric vehicle, and when
it finally arrived journalists
flocked to see what the latest
piece of innovation from Sir
Clive's stables had to offer.

The C5 was launched as the
first of a 'family' of electric veh-
icles which Sinclair Vehicles
plans to introduce during the
next ten years. Sales of over
100,000 units were forecast for
the CS by its makers, and 2,000
of the electric tricycles had been
built and put into stock before
the mail-order launch. Produc-
tion targets of 1,000 C5s a week
were set at the Hoover factory in
Mertbyr Tydfil, and a massive £3
million advertising campaign
swung into motion to promote
sales.

Within days the C5 trike was
being panned by the media. Crit-
icised for being unsafe, un-
stable, dangerous because it

80 CRASH August 1985

£«£™!^/tc^ ** c ~<*

wouldn't be conspicuous to
other road users — a deathtrap
on three wheels. Very rapidly,
Sinclair's first electric vehicle
acquired such names as 'the
pregnant rollerskate' and 'the
electric clog' from journalists
eager to write some easy knock-
ing copy.

Quite rapidly, it became clear
that the level of safes forecast
would simply not be achieved in
the UK market. To date only
8,000 C5's have been sold— less
than a fifth of the targetted sales
levels — and some months ago
production at the factory was cu t
from 1,000 units a week to 100.
C5 workers go back to making
washing machines' was one
told-you-so newspaper head-
line.

Early in June this year, Sir
Clive wrote, in the Mail on
Sunday: \. , before the first cust-
omer had taken his C5 onto the

road, a vast tidal wave of critic-
ism had surged over my revolu-
tionary new form of transport , , .
last week I found myself in the
headlines every day — as the
misguided creator of a disaster'

The man was clearly unhappy
— but what of the critics? Is the
C5 unsafe? Well, according to
figures compile by the Depart-
ment of Transport for the first six
months of the vehicle's road-
going life, there have only been
two accidents. Neither accident
involved another vehicle, in
both cases being caused by
^driver error', and the extent of
injuries went no further than
'grazing'.

The safety criticisms have
been made out of context in the
main', said a spokesman for
Sinclair Vehicles, 'the only
safety argument is on the basts
of the C5's consprcuity to other
road users — and in the context

of two wheeled vehicles, spec-
ific criticism has only come from
two sources. ROSPA thinks the
C5 is more safe than bikes and
other motorised two wheelers,'
Six thousand C5's are current-
ly held in stock by Sinclair
Vehicles, and there are no plans
to increase the low production
levels in the immediate future, is
the C5 finished? 'We could see
sales improve in the UK with the
better weather— perhaps a mid-
winter launch was not ideal for
an open topped vehicle,' com-
mented the spokesman, 'but we
see the longer term strength of
the C5 lying in overseas sales.
We have come up against the
inhibitions of the British public
and should do better in count-
ries such as France and Holland
where they are already used to
the idea of low-powered two
wheeled vehicles such as the
velocipede.'

Without doubt, the C5 has
attracted a vast amount of un-
flattering press comment. It
could be that when people heard
that Clive Sinclair was working
on electric vehicles they formed
a mental picture of a small car,
like a Mini, powered from a bat-
tery. The reality was bound to be
a disappointment, when a one-
person motorised tricycle was
launched onto a public expect-
ing greater things.

In its own terms, however, it is
clearly a revolution in transport
— even if there aren't that many
people joining in, A whole range
of companies with specialist
skills were involved in the devel-
opment and manufacture of C5
components, including Lotus
Cars who helped with the devel-
opment of the steel chassis, the

™*-£5P? V J° W *° f *** 6 *» anrfpWMS that go together to
malro aC5 Taken from tha Owner's Handbook supplied with
the vehicle.

*!"£ hea 1? 5 ° muc ^ t™* 3 * <** » mini-review. The ubf

ngiiUs to a car park in Ludlow and

; 3ut after i
mgandsc/ ' ■'uuhd

r the

emporium,

■
■ere was a lot of creaky,

Rabin Candy

posstbtef.

in one,! want one!'

steering geometry and handling
and stability.

The battery used to power in©
C5 is very different to the stand-
ard car or lorry battery, which
simply couldn't stand up to
being repeatedly charged up
and discharged and it delivers
its power in a different way,
being able to cope with prolong-
ed heavy loads. Oldham and
Sinclair Vehicles co-operated to
produce the power pack used in
the C5, a technological devel-
opment that will no doubt pay
dividends on future electric
vehicles.

The body mouldings are the
.argest mass produced poly-
propylene injection mouldings
in the world. The bodyshefl is
created from two halves using
an electrical fusion method —an
electric current is passed
through conductive sticky tape
joining the sections, which heats
upandBffectsaweld.

Motive power is supplied by
an electric motor developed by a
firm which specialises, amongst
other things, in making torpedo
motors. Power is delivered
through a gearbox incorporat-
ing glass reinforced nylon gears
which connects directly to the
motor's shaft.

AH in all, the C5 represents a
range of advances in technology
assembled together in one
innovative package. Other elec-
tric vehicle projects, all of which
foundered, started with the con-
cept of a traditional car powered
by a patrol engine and sought to
replace the engine with an elec-
tric motor. Sinclair Vehicles
started at the other end: having
found a motor and battery
combination, they then design-
ed the vehicle out from there.
And it is only the first in a prom-
ised range of electric vehicles—
by the early 1990's Sinclair
Vehicles plans to introduce an
electrically-powered family
vehicle.

Weve not finished yet! The

J&remy Spe«e<?rl s,ncla,ir story continues next
month with . . . well, you'll just
have to wait and see.

CRASH August 1985 81

I

DNICHE u

TIMELY
TIMEX

While confusion reigns as to whether Sinclair Research is or is not
nSS? pi ^S SSP'^VSKfiS u P9 rad e with or without 128K of RAM
WHO said that ) CRASH has received at its offices a machine
which at first sight appears to be the much aligned TIMEX 20€S from
the United States. On closer inspection however, and with an astute
reviewer pointing a joystick-battered finger in the right direction
the small PAL logo was discovered hiding in full PAL-colour on the
Front of the machine leaving no doubt that this was a European
version of the same said brute {Mice one Mr. Holmes). In fact, it was

^^SS /** 6 * 1 **? T,MI T? of Port «9»l *vas the perpetrator of this
cnme (Who on earth would send CRASH a computer to review)? In
their defence it must be said that they were only trying to promote
their baby (a bastard by inception and certainly on closer inspec
tion) wrth the hope of creating some interest here in the UK (wake
H£ y r 11 £°V* and 9, !! l * ,i A thou 9ht crossed our minds here at Ludlow
(the fights dimmed In the offices for a couple of seconds) whether
tZ^^S!^^ rep, ™^P9rade for existing and

_

ON THE FACE OF IT

The good looks of the machine
certainly provoked a Jot of
appreciative grunts from Spec-
trum addicts. The computer
squats on the table trying to
cheat its own shadow and looks
like some jumbo family- pack
portable calculator in 3 neat
stiver metallic costume. The
keyboard layout is an exact copy
of the rubber-gumption Spec-
trum slosbboard, but sports
some extra useful items such as
a full length space bar and a
complementary caps shift key
on the righthand side The anno-
tation is only in mono (What
happened to PAL colour?), but
differentiating between the four
key-modes is in fact easier than
on the Spectrum due to the inv-
erted logos for the symbol shift
operations. The key-action is a
lot more crisp and sharp and is a
space leap for Spectrumkind,
although it's still light-years
away from the full-sized, full
travei keyboard standard.

To the right of the keyboard a
large flap uncovers the TIMEX
COMMAND CARTRIDGE 'dock'
which will accept TIMEX specific
ROM/RAM modules complete
with carrying handles. These are
sideways ROM /RAMS using the
ingenious bank switching tech-
nique {more of this later , . J and
can be the carriers of auto-
starting commercial programs
{games, utilities etc) or special
languages or operating sys-
tems. To the left-hand side of the
Lnii is located a power toggle I

82 CRASH August 1985

switch (yes, no add-on requ-
ired?) and further back a nine pin
D type plug reveals the exist
ence of an inbuilt joystick port, lo
and behold, two joystick ports —
the companion plug residing on
the opposite side of the com
puter. Great, no fuss and worry
about joystick interfaces, but
wait, the software access to the
joysticks is anything but stand-
ard, requiring access to ports
245 and 246. The trouble is com-
pounded by the fact that the joy-
sticks share these ports with the
inbuilt sound generator chip.
Before a read of port 246, one of
the sound chip registers must be
selected which will enable the
free input port dedicated to the
joystick. This is done by writing
the correct value to the sound
chip address port 245. Con-
fused, well this means that the
joystick ports can only be acces-
sed with machine specific soft-
ware or by using an extended
basic command called STICK,
that is if you do your own prog-
ramming.

At the rear of the unit are a
range of input and output ports,
the most familiar being the PAL
compatible UHF modulated TV
output, the 9V power socket and
the MIC and EAR sockets for the
cassette recorder. A monitor
output is provided, which deliv-
ers a composite video signal.
Unlike the Spectrum, The TIMEX
features three extended display
modes besides the usual 32 col-
umn screen with the character
size attribute mode (display
mode 1 ), Display mode 2 prov-
rdes a 24 x 64 character display
(512 x 192 pixels) with one ink

and one paper colour. Only fixed
paper and ink colour combinat-
ions may be selected with bright
on and flash disabled. If the
character set is redefined by the
user, up to 80 characters can be
displayed per column and here,
obviously, the monitor output is
essential.

Display mode 3 displays a
secondary screen and attribute
page similar to display mode 1,
only this time the display file is
not at 4O00H - 57FFH, but at
6000H - 77FFH and the attribute
file not at 580OH - 5AFFH but at
78O0H - 7AFFH.

Display mode 4 is the high
colour resolution display with
the same pixel resolution as
mode 1 but with a choice of ink,
paper, brightness and flashing
for every pixel row of eight
pixels. The attribute file is loc-
ated at 6O00H - 7AFFH in this
case. As fast item there is a 64
pin bus expansion edge connec-
tor, which has a different pinout
to the Spectrum version and so
precludes any ideas of periph-
eral compatibility.

DEEP INSIDE .. .

Having extended facilities such
as joystick ports, sound gener-
ator chip and 'dock' memory
port, the TIMEX requires a differ-
ent approach to the system
memory configuration. As the
280 can only access 64K of
memory at any given time, the
TIMEX people have resorted to
the bank switching technique.
Up to 4 different banks of 64K
can be accessed via the memory
bank controller located at ports
252 (DATA) and 253 (ADDR),
Memory is selected in 8K chunks
and up to eight of these can be
selected from the whole bank
range as long as they are not
located at the same 64K address
position.

The Home bank is selected by
default and contains the 16K
ROM with the Basic Interpreter,
routines for in- and output
(graphics, keyboard, joysticks,
printer, sound chip etc} and 48K
of RAM with the Display files,
system variables and BASIC
program. This is equivalent to
the structure of the Spectrum
memory. The second bank is the

EX ROM bank which only con-
tains an 8K ROM with the cass-
ette in — output routines, the
bank switching code and the
system initialisation routines.
The third bank is the DOCK bank,
which serves the cartridge prog-
rams, and contains either AROS
(Application oriented software)
or LROS (Language oriented
software) or both. The system
will detect the presence of these
modules and will pass control to
these. Bank 4 is the EXPANSION
bank. The system will support
up to 2 of these (up to 253 of
these with a Bus Expansion
Unit) and the banks can be used
for controlling intelligent
devices or for memory expans-
ion. Expanding the TIMEX
machine to 128K is therefore a
doddle.

SOUNDSRIGHT.

As mentioned earlier, TIMEX
has provided the machine with a
bit more audio power with the
help of a 3 channel sound gener-
ator chip extra to the normal
BEEP output. The General
Instrument Ay-3-8912 chip
consists of a tone generator for
three channels A, B and C, a
noise generator and mixers.
There is ample control provided
for various envelope shapes,
amplitude levels (up to 1 6 levels)
and ton© and noise generator
combination selections either
via Basic or via machine code
instructions.

EXTENDED BASIC

To access ail the extra little
goodies, several BASIC com-
mands have been implemented.
SOUND reg r vafu«; reg, value;
etc.

Th is co mmand controls the 1 5
registers of the sound chip and
aflowsthe programmer to man-
handle the chip in BASIC and
create a symphonic background
to the graphic activities on the
screen.
STICK (device type, player)
The function allows the player
to read the status of the two
ioysticks within BASIC. The
value returned can be a combin-
ation of several activities and

TECHBNICHEnTECHDNICHEnTECHnNIC

must therefore be evaluated
within ranges.

DELETE m,n

This command allows the
deletion of a seouence of lines
from 3 program {fines niton),

FREE

This function returns the
number of bytes of free space
currently available in the Home
RAM for either programs or
variables.

RESET <$c}(*)

This command causes the
device associated with the spec-
ified stream to be reinitialised. If
a channel number is not provid-
ed, the system initialises any
new devices it finds. The RESET
* command does the equivalent
of turning the machine off, then
on again.

ON ERR GOTO tinenumber

ON ERR CON'T

ON ERR RESET

These statements disable the
automatic program termination
upon encountering an error
condition. The OM ERR GOTO
Iinenumber can capture an error
with a error routine residing at
the specified line and the error
number and line location can be
peeked at the locations 23739
and 23736. The statement
number within the line that
caused the error is stored in
location 23738. The ON ERR
CONT statement causes the
program to resume execution at
the statement in which the error
originally occurred. If the com-
mand is encountered and an
error has not occurred, the
command is ignored.

A complete set of commands
is available for accessing disk or
disk-like storage devices which

are present on an Expansion
Bank. The Home ROM is respon-
sible for passing the command
and calling the appropriate rout-
ine in the specified Expansion
Bus. These include commands
such as OPEN, CLOSE, SAVE,
LOAD, ERASE, MOVE, VERIFY,
PRINT, INPUT and MERGE with
micro-drive style arguments.

COMPATIBILITY

Few hardware manufacturers
will deny that launching a new
computer without a large exist-
ing software base can cause
initial sales delays, especially if
the target market is games rel-
ated. Timex in the States obvi-
ously underestimated this point
by not ensuring full compatibil-
ity with existing Spectrum
games. They rejected access to
the world's largest games soft-
ware base and lost the advant-
age of winning several years of
free software development.
TIMEX of Portugal realised this
and are offering an emulator
cartridge to fit into the 'dock'
port. Several ROM routines and
their start addresses are differ-
ent on the home bank ROM and
machine code programs access-
ing these routines will encount-
er several obstacles. So many
arcade games program will
probably not run in the standard
configuration, The emulator
replaces the home ROM and
provides full compatibility with
the Spectrum. Several Spec-
trum games were tested and
performed as normal with the
use of the emulator.

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CRASH August 1985 83

UTECHnNICHEUTECHUNICHEUTECHU

VERDICT

The TIMEX computer offers an
improved performance when
compared to the Spectrum 48K
and the Spectrum Plus, but it is
about two years too late in
appearing. It does not offer
enough improvements to
warrant users to upgrade to this
machine, as there are several
very exciting new computers
appearing on the market. For
new users the machine could

prove to be a better machine
than the Spectrum, although the
changes wiil only be noticed
with specially written software
which will make good use of the
sound generator chip, the inbuilt
joystick ports and the bank
switching possibilities. The
major question will be what
price level the machine will be
offered at. At £70 - 80 the TIMEX
would be a very good entry level
computer, but no official price
indications have found their way
to the CRASH offices . . .

MIRAGE
MICRODRIVER

You may recall that only last month we reviewed a product called
Interface III, a machine that would stop and transfer any game
onto microdrive. We said then that we expected there to be others,
but not so soon. Essentially the Af /rage and (interface III perform the
same trickery but the Mirage does seem to be better thought out. In
appearance it's another famous Spectrum black box with a little red
button on the side. After opening the box we spent some time doing
a chip count, there are three, all black and well legged. All in all there
isn't much inside, nothing even remotely resembling a hoover, as
we had expected.

Using the Mirage is a dream.
Interface III required the user to
make two copies of a game in
order to a final copy, only one of
those copies could be made
onto microdrive. The Mirage is
fitted to Ihe Spectrum and stays
there while the user loads the
game. After the game has load-
ed simply press the little blip on
the side and the game will freeze
while at the top of the screen a
two tine deep blue box appears
which sternly offers a copyright
warning for itsehY// and then in-
vites you to press any key. Now
you are presented with five opt-
ions; Load, Save, Poke, Run and
New. To save the game you
have loaded press S and Mirage
asks you for a filename. After
that simply enter the microdrive
number and next a touching
message appears , . . 'Please
wait . . . ' After a long drawn out
30 seconds the microdrive
burst/grinds into life. As long as
you remembered to format the
cartridge and the microdrive is
behaving,, you are asked if you
want to verify the saved game, if
you don't trust your drive you

84 CRASH August 1985

ation completed, you can now
pocket the saved version of your
game. The whole operation is
completed in the time it takes to
toad a game plus a little over a
minute.

The Mirage unit can copy a
game to tape. Instead of the
microdrive number you enter T.
Tape copy facilities are general-
ly frowned upon and Mirage
clearly hope to win friends by
designing the system so that
games copied with the unit can
only be run again if it is still con-
nected to the Spectrum. One
very good reason for keeping
the unit attached at all times is
that all the loading functions are
handled by the software within
the Mirage, To load a game
press the red button and obtain
the main menu, press L for load,
enter the file name and then the
drive number and that's it, much
easier than using the normal
microdrive commands. When a
game has loaded from drive, the
menu will appear again, to start
the game enter R for run and off
you go. The Poke option allows
you to enter, say, an infinite lives
poke without having to break

MONEY
FROM
YOUR
SOFT-
WARE

Published by: ESC
Publishing, 25 Beaumont
Street, Oxford, 0X1 2NP
Author: Anne Staines
Price: £6.75 (plus 80p
Postage if you buy mail
order)

The days of the backroom soft-
ware house are not yet over —
we seem to get a constant
stream of letters and phone calls
from people who have just writ-
ten, or are about to write their
mega-game, the ultimate
adventure or a super-dooper
simulation. 'Can you recom-
mend a software house I could
sell it to', 'How do I avoid being
ripped off' and 'Should I publish
it on my own' are probably the
three main questions asked by
budding Matthew Smiths and
Mike Singletons.
And some of these questions

are difficult to answer during a
five minute telephone conver-
sation — the commercial world
is a jungle at the best o( times,
and even the most experienced
business types can fall foul of
the traps and pitfalls that exist,
Apart from having a worthwhile
product, it's wise to be equipped
with a fair understanding of
topics such as copyright,
marketing, the law of contract,
finance and taxation before
embarking on the quest for your
fortune. Apart from the sharks,
there's a whole host of legal
requirements, rules and regu-
lations waiting to confuse and
confound the entrepreneur.

We have been advising
people who've asked us how to
go about making money from
their programs to get hold of a
copy of Anne Staines' book. For
£6.95 it's probably one of the
most cost-effective investments
anyone contemplating selling
their software could make. Ms
Staines is a barrister — they
normally come very expensive
— and she has drawn on her
professional knowledge and
experience to provide a read-
able introduction to a whole
host of topics, including basic
details on setting up a limited
company, protecting and
defending your copyright,
contracts, raising finance and
marketing. All in one book,
which costs about as much as
ten minutes with a member of
the legal profession, face to face.
A good deal indeed.

into the game. You are prompt-
ed for the address and then the
data. The poke option makes the
creation of cheat games a
doddle.

Because the Mirage must be
connected at all times, any other
equipment has to plug into its
through bus, that's simple
enough until the little boxes
start to argue. More often than
not such rare problems can be
prevented by changing the
order of the devices hung on the
Spectrum. On occasions when
using the box we noticed the
Murage system 'invades' the
current game with its menu but
pressing R returned everything
to normal.

The Mirage definitely out-
strips the Interface III in terms of

ease of use, flexibility and
speed. However Interface III

does allow the user to decide
whether to save the opening
screen or not. By not saving that
screen two games can be fitted
onto one cartridge whereas
Mirage only allows one game
per cartridge. The system would
have been even better if a format
routine could have been built
into the list of Mirage options.

This device is a must for the
serious mierodriver.

Price: £39.95

available via Mail order

Mirage Microcomputers Ltd

24 Bank Street

Bra in tree,

Essex

pfcG\* u

V&l

The Silversol

ARCADE SIX-PACK

Silversoft ARCADE SIX-PACK Offer

2l2? e ^? nd ™° th ® »fe 9a J" es as fast 9S V° u can f f enclose

'CRASH' ° fP ° St incfuded > made out to

(Block Capitals please)

Name .,

Address . ... * ,,..'.[[', '.'.', '. ', ■•*.<<

" Postcode

^ Se n'!^ te: , Subsc ^f r ^ and reader d '«9unta do not apply to this
offer. Offer closes 30th September 1985.

Sertd your payment and order form to : '

StXS5r SOFTOFFER ' CRASH MAGAZINE,
PO BOX 10, LUDLOW, I

SHROPSHIRE SY81DB

&o^

BTECHUNICHEnTECHnNICHEDTECHDN

The Niche takes a first look at
Basic Compilers for the Spectrum

86 CRASH August 1985

~

OHEnTECHUNICHEnTECHnNICHEUTEC

There's a world of difference
between ZX BASIC and machine
code. Programs in BASIC tend
to be slow, with jerky graphics
and poor sound effects. Prog-
rams in machine code run hund-
reds of times faster — which
doesn't mean that the graphics
just jerk around the screen at
Warp Factor Ten. No, machine
code programming permits
smoother movement, '3D' per-
spectives, simultaneous sound,
animation and so on.

Of course, machine code
doesn't necessarily make a
game playable, and some
classic games have been progr-
ammed entirely in BASIC —
Mined Out, Football Manager
and Velnor's Lair for instance.
But if you want to write a shoot-
'em-up game, or a program with
sophisticated graphics, you'll
almost certainly find BASIC too
slow.

Back In the olden days of
Spectrum programming, when
programmers assembled code
in their heads, and the back
pages of the old orange manual
were the first to fait out, there
wasn't much alternative to
learning machine code once
you'd come up against the limit-
ations of BASIC.

Learning machine code was a
traumatic process: before disks
and microdrives (which brought
their own meaning to the term
'random access'} every prog-
ramming mistake meant a
crash. Teaching yourself mach
ine code was a frustrating proc-
ess as, after each mistake, it took
several minutes to re-load your
assembler, debugger and prog-
ram source from tape in prepar-
ation for another crack at the
problem.

Predictably it wasn't long
before someone figured out
that, if the computer was so
fiendishly clever, it really ought
to be able to make up machine
code for itself. In this article we
take a look at currently available
BASIC to machine code trans-
lators, or 'compilers'. Next
month we hope to examine Cott
and Blast, two new and aggres-
sive-sounding BASIC compilers
which are under development.
In future Niches we'll blow the
dust off other Spectrum lang-
uages such as Logo, Forth, C,
and Pascal.

Meanwhile, back at the key-
board, . . .

WHY IS BASIC SO SLOW?

BASIC is slow because every-
thing you type is carefully
checked to make sure it is cor-
rect. This would be fair enough if
it only happened once, when the
program was entered, but the
exhaustive checking continues
even while a program is run-
ning.

It you write a program fn
BASIC to add 2 and 2 a hundred
times, the computer will take as
long to work out the answer the
last time as it did the first 99
times. The actual adding is done

fairly quickly in machine code
(which is the only language the
Spectrum's Z8C processor can
really understand), but the over-
all effect is still very slow. This is
partly because BASIC checks the
syntax of lines over end over
again, even after they have been
entered (in case some stray
POKE or Cosmic Ray has
changed the contents of prog
ram memory?)

BASIC is also hampered by
the need to cope with all sorts of
special cases. The routine to add
numbers in the Spectrum ROM
has to be able to cope with func-
tions, arrays, numbers and vari-
ables; these can have almost
any value from minus several
zillion upwards. The Z80 proc-
essor can only cope with a few
digits at a time; it has to do all its
arithmetic in several steps, just
in case. Worse still, it can't mult-
iply and divide at all, so these
operations must be performed
'longhand'.

Much of the code in the Spec-
trum's ROM is taken from the
earlier 2X81 BASIC, which was
squashed into just 8K, In order to
keep the size down, parts of ZX
BASIC were written using a leis-
urely version of the compact
Forth language, rather than
machine code, A new ROM for
tbe Spectrum is planned
(though not by Sinclair), but
nothing has materialised yet.

One of the nice features of
Spectrum BASIC is the way that
it lets you type in new lines of
program and scrub out old ones
as you test your program. This is
hell for the BASIC system, which
has to keep scrabbling around in
tables to keep track of shifting
variables and program lines.
The longer your BASIC prog-
ram, the worse this gets, so that
a 20K program may run at half
the speed of a 2K one. In
compiled BASIC, however, the
position of every line and varia-
ble is fixed. This makes prog-
rams fast, but means that you
have to re-compile the whole lot
if you changed one line.

Finally, ZX BASIC is cursed by
the stupid way humans like to
write things. We write 'X = S + T
when the computer would be
much happier with '6 + 7 = X'. It
can't do anything with the name
X till it finds the equals sign
(meaning that a value must be
stored). Similarly, the equals
sign isn't really relevant till the
computer knows what is to be
stored The plus sign means add
two values — there's no point
telling the computer about ft
until it has found both the
numbers, ZX BASIC actually
performs calculations in the
second sequence (which is
called Reverse polish Notation),
but it has to re-order them from
the first sequence every time it
finds them, and that is a slow
process,

WHAT'S A COMPILER

The Spectrum BASIC compil-
ers are programs which read a

BASIC program and produce a
machine code equivalent. The
compiler and both programs
have to be in memory all at once,
which lim its the size of compiled
programs to 1Q-20JC

Compiled code may be any-
thing from 2 to 200 times faster
than the original, depending
upon the compiler you are using
and the intricacy of the original
program. We ran (or at least,
tried to run I }thestandard BASIC
benchmark programs on each of
the compilers- The results are
shown in the Timing Table,
along with the published tim-
ings for ZX BASIC.

The timings are not as fast as
for pure machine code, which
allows much more freedom to
the programmer, but they are
easily fast enough for most
games programming. A number
of commercial games are writ-
ten in compiled BASIC (includ-
ing frank W Stern, published by
PSS) and look none the worse
for it, although you'd be hard-
put to write Knight Lore with a
compiler,

A few of the positions in the
table contain asterisks, because
the test program could not be
processed by that compiler. In
order to keep compiled prog-
rams fast, and reduce the
complexity of the compiler, the
packages all impose restrictions
on what they can compile.

COMPILER CONSTRAINTS

Softek's FP compiler is the only
one that can cope with decimal
values, for instance — this
makes it much slower than the
others, but means that it is the
only compiler suitable for use in
business programming. But
who wants to run as business on
a Spectrum anyway? The other
compilers restrict you to whole
numbers between -32767 and
32767, although you can use
values up to 65535 in POKEs and
suchlike.

You can switch back and forth
from normal BASIC, machine
code and compiled code with
USR calls and RETURN instruc-
tions, so it is possible to write
programs in a mixture of lang-
uages if you need speed at one
point and sophistication else-
where.

The Softek compilers {FP and
IS) are the only ones which allow
you to use full BASIC string-
handling; Mcoder gives you a
fa rrly com plete set of f aci lities to
work with short strings (up to
255 characters) but Zip and the
Mebmood compiler can only
offer simple routines to read and
write characters. You could
probably write a text adventure
using Mcoder or one of the
Softek compilers, but you'd be
much better off using The Quiff,
Array handling is similarly

T It

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bytes directly to m/drive with many other features (eg alter
program names, stop programs, etc) buy MT6 at £3,
{Wafadnve version is called WAFATAPE at £4).

LERM INFORMATION
SHEETS

Each sheet gives you the DETAILED instructions required to
transfer to your drive 8 of the more POPULAR programs
Th , e X^H! ACH P ,us SAE U P t0 sn eet 4 available.
«4ffPA T l SERVICE: Send old tape plus large SAE to get £2
R^UCTfON OVERSEA*
product, SAE for enquiries.

LERM, DEPT CR, 10 BRUNSWICK GDNS,
CORBY, NORTHANTS NN18 9ER

CRASH August 1985 87

3TECHBNICHEnTECHUNICHEnTECHD

limited — none of the compilers
allow arrays of more than one
dimensioned the tS and Meh-
mood programs won't allow
arrays at all. you can use long
variable names with Mcoder
and the Softek compilers, but
the cheaper packages restrict
you to 52 short variable names.
The 'core' of ZX BASIC com-
mands — PRINT, INPUT, PLOT,
DRAW, LET, GO SUB, IF, and so
on — are allowed by all the
compilers. The Mehmood com-
piler doesn't allow FOR loops,
which meant that we couldn't
run some of the benchmark
programs.

One of the snags of real mach-
ine code is the fact that you can't
'break in' to programs. Thissuits
software houses, who want to
discourage piracy, but it is very
inconvenient for programmers.
The only way you can stop a
machine code program is to pulf
out the plug and re-load it. Zip
and Mcoder allow you to break
into compiled programs at will,
but the Softek compilers require
a special command wherever
you might wish to break into
compiled programs. You can't
break into programs produced
by the Mehmood compiler at a II.
The Softek compilers allow
you to put special instructions in
REM statements. These instruc-
tions only work once a program
has been compiled,, which is
inconvenient since you can't test
such programs fully in normal
BASIC — one of the big advant-
ages of BASIC compilers over
machine code is the fact that you
can test your programs inter-
actively, with all the BASIC
checks and hand-holding to help
you, before you compile them.

Softek's special instructions
allow you to check for the Break
key, enter machine code into the
program, and move simple
(character-sized) sprites

smoothly around the screen. On
the FP compiler you can also
trap errors and simulate the ON
. . . GO TO statement. None of
the compilers let you GO TO a
calculated line number — you
must always GO TO a specific
number.

Mcoder offers some REM
instructions, but these are des-
igned for program testing. You
can turn off BREAK checks, giv-
ing marginally faster code, or
turn on a 'trace' facility which
shows the current line as it is
executed. Mcoder and Zip allow
you to pass variable values back
and forth between BASIC and
machine code.

THE COMPILERS COMPARED

So far we've taken a broad over-
view, looking at the compilers
together. In the following sect*
ion we look closely at each of the
five Spectrum compilers (there
were six, but the first Spectrum
BASIC compiler, SUPER C is no
longer available).

88 CRASH August 1985

ZIP 1.5

£5.50

ZIP COMPILER OFFER, 120

Greenfield Road, Harborne,

Birmingham

This is yet another refugee from
a computer maga2»ne — an early
version of Zip was listed (in the
wrong order, mainly) by the
troubleshooting goblins at Your
Spectrum last year (issues 3-6).

Wmmm

slowly than Mcoder or /Sjl A Mehmood, 30 Webber House.

I vRTJ! t*K77^T3M ;f!Ti 7fITi

the Popular Computing weekly!!

offering, Line numbers abovellThis compiler was featured in a

Weekly articles in April this year.

EiaiiiiMia.

Compiler is written in BASIC,

Mm mmMi iMffwm

consisting of twelve pages of A5 Hed for the compiler program. As
(reduced from the A4 originals), llsoon as an error is found a

several programs into different
areas of memory by using
CLEAR between one compil-
ation and the next.

FP is a well -written program,
but it is expensive and may not
be useful to many Spectrum
users, since it doesn't offer a
dramatic speed increase over
well-written BASIC. We'll look at
din next month, when we
examine BLAST, a new compiler
also designed to process 'off the
| shelf programs.

None of these compilers really
offer 'instant translation' for
your BASIC, With the possible
exception of Softek's FP you
really have to write your prog
ram with compilation in mind —
it is hard work lo convert exist-
ing BASIC to suit any of the
compilers. Also, there are some
things which are hard to do
without the flexibility of real
machine code. That said, the
packages all produce working
code pretty effortlessly, and you
can be reasonably confident that
compiled programs wilt work
first lime — untike hand-coded
ones!

Next month, PR companies
willing, we should be able to
report on two new compilers —
Coft, from HiSoff which is a
development of Mcoder, and
Oxford Computer Systems'
Blast, which promises to com-
pile absolutely any ZX BASIC
program, without alteration. At
the moment we're having a brt
of trouble wheedling copies out
of the manufacturers — they
both seem to be holding back
until they've had a chance to
dismantle their competitor's
product! We'll compile more
information next Niche

Dorr

AVJEWMKILL

THE

AME

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DwadtLtf., 204 Wotpie Roafl, London SW2Q 9PN, Tel; 01-947 5624 Telex: 894475 G

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DEREK BREWSTER

DON'T BLAME ME
I'M ONLY THE
PROGR

ONE GOOD RULE in life is 'never boast about anything until you
have seen it through'. And the other pearl of wisdom you tend to
hear is 'things are always more difficult than they look'.

Taking the first rule, I think we can safely say there have been
many companies who, in retrospect, would have done well to take
heed of it, You don't have to took too far for examples of games
which demonstrated this rule; here are a few of the notables:
Sherlock, The Great Space Race, Swords and Sorcery, and, of
course, Psycfapse and Bandersrtatch. Big things were expected of
these games, not because of previews generating interest but on
account of rather large advertising campaigns. Their high public
profiles suggested that an enormous expenditure on hype could
only possibly indicate a similar expenditure in time and effort on the
program itself. Which leads me on to the second rule

Things are -always more difficult than they look — but in the case of

grogramming, things become nigh-on impossible. Take the balance
etween speed and length. The number of moving graphics will
determine how quickly a game will play; too many moving graphics
and all wilt be reduced to a snail's pace. If the graphics are stored in a
compact form then the code to decipher them may well slow the
game appreciably. The length of code becomes critical if the graph-
ics are stored in the form to be displayed on screen, as a vast amount
of memory is required.

It is difficult to know how this balance between speed and memory
will work out until the project is well underway. Indeed, it may only
be at this later stage when it is discovered the whole programming
project was too ambitious in the first place. This problem besets all
programmers but will affect those who work on orders from above
to a greater extent.

Every software house worth its free publicity has a whole
menagerie of Managing Directors, Marketing Managers, Public
Relations Officers, Secretaries, Graphic Artists, Games Designers,
Cover Artists and someone to make the tea (teaperson). This is a
considerable number of people - even if the V signifies at the very
most two people with each job title, and there is much overlapping of
roles eg a Marketing Manager may make the tea, while Public
Relations ensure each cup has the correct amount of sugar in it.

The problem is that the orders from above can come down so thick
and fast, that they soon form a heavy overburden which begins to
exert a significant pressure on the poor guy at the bottom — who is
none other than our poor little programmer, struggling with the
implications of our second rule. He may be having difficulty imple-
menting some big idea from above, perhaps a film/TV /superstar
endorsement and and be desperate to get the game finished
knowing how much the software house paidto secure the rights.

Don't get me wrong. The marketing, graphic and design skills are a
very important part of the new mega-game blockbuster. All I am
saying is spare some resources for the people actually programming
-it may well pay off.

THE

FOURTH
PROTO-
COL

Producer: Hutchinson
Computer Publishing
Price: £12.95
Language: machine code
Authors: J Lambshead,G
Paterson, Electronic
Pencil Co

If the last book you read was the
Beano annual 1978 then you
may not be aware of the stand-
ing of The Fourth Protocol (the
book) in the literary world —
where it was received to great
popular acclaim. Much of the
panache of that Frederick
Forsyth novel dealing with the
murky depths of counterespion-
age is retained in this computer
game. It boasts a development
team of games designers,
graphic artists and program-
mers, and on loading you can
well believe it. The game's con-
cept has been very well imple-
mented and the graphics are
attractive and impressive.

The plot goes like this: in a
remote cottage just outside
Moscow a Soviet General Sec-
retary and the British traitor Kim
Philby plot the most audacious
offensive of the cold war, code-
named Plan Aurora. The plan is
to destabilize Britain and force
the disintegration of NATO.
With the NATO pact out of the
way Soviet forces would then be
free to overthrow Western
Europe. The idea is to renege on
the Fourth Protocol, a part of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty signed
by thB 1968 nuclear powers of

Britain, USA and Russia. This
involves the smuggling of a
nuclear device into the UK and
exploding rt there just before the
1987 General Election. A KGB
disinformation program will
ensure the nuclear disaster is
blamed on an American military
installation. The election of a
hard left government commit-
ted to withdrawal from NATO
will lead to a totalitarian state in
Britain. Your role is to play John
Preston, MI5 investigator, who
must uncover Plan Aurora and
ensure that its insidious results
are never realized.

Even as you take up your post
as head of CI(A) a burglary is
taking place somewhere in
England, The burglar steals the
Glen Diamonds but, more
important, disturbs some secret
NATO documents. The MOD
mandarins receive these files
and immediately get the
Paragon Committee, whose sole
concern is the source of the lost
documents, onto the case. Your
task is to find who is leaking the
secrets, to whom they are being
leaked, and why. Meantime,
however, you must run a busy
secret service department from
your Cencom control network,
maintaining as low a public pro-
file as possible.

Nato Documents is the first of
three parts on the tape and is an
adventure/strategy game which
uses an icon driven control
system re you point to what you
want and then press ENTER to
reveal further options. The heart
of the game is the Cencom
display which allows access to
news reports, sitreps (situation
reports), files, telephone calls
(both in and out), surveillance of
suspects, and self-assessment
to see how you are getting on in
your role as head of CI (A), By
way of this series of menus and
sub-menus the player can effec-
tively control the whole organis-
ation: ail its in- and outgoings of
both personnel and messages.
A file can be read into your
Cencom system's memory over
the telephone from Blenheim, a
building which contains the vast
archives of MIS. As you might
expect, however, codes must be
deciphered and entered
correctly,

Playing, the first thing you
might like to do is to track down
your personal list of telephone
numbers as there is some
important information available
to you at Blenheim, You will
need your one-time decoding
sheets in order to enter the code
of the week (which, strangely
enough, lasted well over a

CRASH August 1985 91

MORDON'S QUEST

month when I played it), This
allows you to download into
your Cencom console valuable
lists of Cabinet and Foreign
Office staff who had access to
the stolen documents. Those
staff with access to photocopy-
ing facilities are shown — which
may be significant, as the stolen
documents were photocopies.
All the while you must concern
yourself with the funning of a
busy secret service department
and this can even go as far as
probing the private lives of the
workers in your office. Miss
Abbs has a fling with a foreign
diplomat and you must decide
What you are going to do about
it, if anything. More important is
finding out who leaked the NEC
privatization documents to; the
national press and dealing with
the culprit.

An important part of security
is surveillance and choosing the
surveillance icon allows you the
option of allocating up to 25
watchers to any one suspect,
and withdrawing some or all of
them as their activities become
less critical. The assessment
icon is also of great interest to
the player as it reports back just
how well the player is doing.
Your prestige rating will change
with the competence of your
decisions and has a tangible
effect on how many watchers
MIS are prepared to allocate
you. These decisions are realist-

92 CRASH August 1985

icaliy difficult and you must take
care not to air a scandal in public
or feed the press any intrigue.

The Fourth Protocol :The
Garne consists of three indep-
endent programs - The Nato
Documents, The Bomb and The
SAS Assau ft Secret codes are
given when programs 1 and 2
are successfully solved and
these words allow entry to the
next part. The different parts
make up a game which is truly
original. It has been exception-
ally well planned in that it is very
easy to play right from the start
and keeps your interest through-
out.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: intricate plot
Graphics: good icon graphics
Presentation: professionally

designed

Input facility: icon driven,
sometimes has a tendency for
an annoying auto repeat
Response: instantaneous
General rating: a highly
playable and addictive
adventure /strategy game

Atmosphere 9

Vocabulary N/A

Logic 9

Addictive quality 9

Overall value 9

Producer: Melbourne
House

Price: £6.95

Language: machine code
Author: John
Jones-Steele

The cassette inlay proclaims
'The Classic Adventure contin-
ues'. And so it does, as not only
is this offering from the same
author as Melbourne House's
Classic Adventure (based
almost entirety on the famous
mainframe program) but it
marks a return to traditional
values in adventuring ■ puzzles
galore, text compression to
ensure a worthy length and the
complete absence of pictures
that might otherwise use up
precious memory.

You wouldn't need a market-
ing executive to tell you that the
best way to spruce up a text
adventure is to redesign the
character set and that's what we
have here. Further, 40 charac-
ters a line, justified for a square,
neat, look, and a dash of attract-
ive colouring convince the play-
er someone has taken the time
to get the appearance just right.
As for the substance, he re again,
there is much to admire. The
location descriptions are long,
detailed and well-written. The
plot is entertaining and each
part of the story is interesting
and imaginative. Offering six
lives to save the player starting

all over again each time a life is
lost is a super idea

Your quest is awe inspiring
enough, to save the universe,
and this is achieved by recover-
ing the lost components of an
immortality machine. The
machine's owner is Mordon, the
Ancient One, who appears
before you early on, shrouded in
light. Finding Mordon while you
play is not so easy and needs a
little wandering before he finally
reveals himself. The exit from
the curiously familiar house in
which you find yourself leads
into a mist-filled jungle where
you encounter quicksand and
many other sticky situations.
You finally stumble into the
ruins of an ancient city which
conceals many old relics
beneath its dust, such as pieces
of machinery and old coins.
These spare parts and treasures
are very significant as your
SCORE is comprised of these
alongside the number of turns
taken so far. On through caves,
tunnels and jungles and seem-
ingly thousands of years pass
with each step as you are trans-
ported into a fantastic future
world of perspex domes, flash-
ing lights and ambient music.

The nuts and bolts of this
adventure are on the whole
encouraging, with the text
compression allowing long nar-
ratives — the speech of Mordon
lasts two full pages. Take this
first location description for
example. 'You are in the master
bedroom, despite the richness

of the bed and the oriental
carpet underfoot, the room is
sparsely decorated. An indefin-
able atmosphere permeates the
room, as if some great tragedy
once occurred here. Tall sash
windows face north and west.
Large double doors open to the
south'.

However, some aspects are
unusual or perhaps even disap-
pointing. I have previously
stated an opinion on non-stand-
ard vocabulary so no two
guesses for what I think about a
game which chooses to use
WHERE for LOOK when trying to
redescribe a location or to see
the result of some action, like
switching on a torch. The EXAM-
INE command does not prove as
useful as it might, and what is
more, it is not error checked so
EXAMINE XXX and EXAMINE
TRANSPORTER both throw up
'You can see nothing special'.
Most problems are logical but
the first, which leads to the
apparition of Mordon, is illogical
end arbitrary.

There are many humorous
interludes to your deadly ser-
ious quest of saving the known
universe. I'll leave it to you to
discover the consequences of
EXAMINE ASHES or KILUng the
carnivorous PLANT. More fun
can be had in the cannibal's hut
while you desperately try to find

a way out

Mordon's Quest is a tradition-
al adventure and is in many
ways an updated supplement to
C/assic Adventure from the
same author. Due to extensive
text compression the game is
■long - over 150 locations with a
vocabulary of over 400 words.
After playing many much more
fanciful efforts this summer !
very much enjoyed this game as
it has I ong , atmospheric desc ri p-
tions and the puzzles have been
ingeniously interwoven into a
fascinating fabric of clues and
apparent dead ends. If you
enjoyed Classic Adventure
you'll like this one.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: moderate
Graphics: none
Presentation: reasonably neat
and readable, uses 40 characters

f»er row
nput facility: accepts sentences
Response: very fast
General rating : very good; a
long, atmospheric game

CONFIDENTIAL

Atmosphere
Vocabulary
Logic

Addictive quality
Overall rating

Producer: Radar Games
Price: £6.95
Language: Quill

Authors: D Heaiey and C
Guest

Confidential is undoubtedly
from a small software concern,
but the effort expended in mak-
ing this an interesting game to
piay is evidenced in the extens-
ive literature which accomp-
anies the cassette. As well as the
super (and accurate) map and
notebook which every player
receives, I had a good read of the
Confidential File hints list, with-
out which I would have found
the going rather difficult to say
the feast

The supporting literature
makes much of this game find-
ing its setting in the real world
with real streets, bank, shops,
nightclubs and a taxi office. Of
course they aren't actually real
in that they exist in the fictitious
town of Fox Bay, but consider-
ing this game was written some
time before last month's edit-
orial it's certainly a welcome
change to wander about a town
which at least has a street map
provided.

Confidential is the story of the

disappearance of a Mr Richards,
a property developer, from the
small coastal town of Fox Bay,
and the subsequent investig-
ation carried out by the focal
private detective, Craig Adams.
With suitable deference to one
or two notables in this area, the
game attempts to bring some-
thing akin to Cluedo to the ad-
venture world.

You find yourself in the Craig
Adams Detective Agency and
faced with the immediate
scourge of any office worker -
the ringing telephone. But you
are no sedentary 9 to 5 type and
this calf is a real humdinger,
dropping a juicy pomegranate
of intrigue right into your trench -
coated lap. A Mrs Richards of
Dale End, a western suburb of
fox Bay, is worried about her
husband who has been missing
for 5 days. All she knows is that
he left for work as usual at 8.30
am on Monday morning and
was to collect a special present
for his son's birthday. Your mis-
sion is quite simple - find out
what has happened to her
husband.

The game which builds up
from around this conversation
involves you travelling around

OF

&■ The Quill

YEAR

& The Illustrator

The Graphic
Adventure Writing System

For Tlie 48K Spectrum

Illustrator £14.95

The Quill £14.95

GIKSOII

30, Hawthorn Road
Barry. South Giam
0446 - 732765

From Computer shops Nationwide
Or direct from us by post or phone
Card Order Line Staffed 24 Hours Dally

- 41361 Ext 430

—

CRASH August 1985 93

f by car when out of town ) col lec-
ting snippets of information
which domino you around the
circuitous route followed by the
missing man. Your chief allies in
this search are a keen ear for
those satient facts which point
toward the ultimate truths, and
the passport discarded in Mr
Richard's car which affords the
very necessary identification
when quizzing store assistants
and other suspects who haven't
got the foggiest who this Mr
Richard is, or was, for that
matter. I never did quite play
enough to find out what exactly
djd happen to the guy, though I
did begin to fearthe worst

Some aspects of the plot are
quite complex, and to be honest
I would have found much of it a
struggle were it not for the hint
sheet kindly supplied by Radar.
The vocabulary is not restricted
to verb/noun to the extent that
phrases like GIVE THE PASS
PORT TO THE WOMAN must be
entered to do the simplest of
things. Since I tend to keep to
verb/noun in the interests of
time I entered PASSPORT
WOMAN — a seemi ng fy i I log i ca I
statement On the whole the
game is not a friend ly one.
Which part of a name is accep-
ted? For example, the Club part
of Club Tropicana and the Store
part of Department Store, but
the Richard part of Richard &
ttlis Developments, is annoy-
mgly inconsistent - where only
one pari of a noun is accepted it
helps if the program keeps to
one approach throughout

There are one or two onerous
tasks everyplayer will meet dur-
ing play. One is the constant
need to UNLOCK then ENTER
the car when any distance is to
be travelled. Another is the task
of dropping an item before
another can be picked up, made
all the more essential by the
program's devious construction
which ensures there is little
option but to do this every time.
One curious one-off hitch is the
inability to leave the mainten-
ance bay with LEAVE MAINTEN-
ANCE. LEAVE GARAGE is
needed and so to leave the
garage LEAVE GARAGE must be

ADVENTURE

TRAIL REVIEW

RATINGS

repeated twice, once to leave the
bay and the second time to leave
the garage proper. Another
(one-off!) is the necessity of
opening a door in the taxi office
which is described as being
already open. Incidentally, I very
much doubt if f could have got
past the taxi office were it not for
the hint sheet.

A more fundamental irritant is
the need to interview suspects in
the correct preset order other-
wise certain crucial events, like
the opening of banks and stores,
will simply not occur. Interview-
ing Mr Ellis, a partner in the
missing man's firm, is a partic-
ularly crucial stage; missing it
could leave you thrashing
around the garage or high street
to no avail. This interview also
marks the time when the local
constabulary decide your car
would be safer in their car
pound,

Because of this fundamental
constraint on your actions, and
the order m wbfch you may carry
them out, the adventure takes
on that distinctive linear look,
where before a problem can be
tackled the one before it in the
line must be laid to rest.

Confidential is a well-present-
ed, attractive, Quilled, text-only
adventure. In terms of storyline
and plot it is significantly above
average and clearly represents a
considerable amount of work on
the part of the programmer.

COMMENTS

Difficulty: quite difficult
Graphics: none
Presentation: quite good
Input facility .basically

verb/noun

Response: instantaneous
General Rating: original plot,
definitely worth exploring

Atmosphere ' 7

Vocabulary 6

Logic 7

Addictive quality 7

Overall value 7

ATMOSPHERE: redacts qugjrlyof
location description andgrapWcs artd
t»w credibly characters befJave.

VOCABULARY: Ihe completeness &
8» vocabulary and Mendfotess of
response. All worete and associated
words (objects etc) in tocaton
deseriptoosshouW be jnctuoted.

LOGIC; retectelhelogicoline problems
encountered and whether or not you a/8
l*ety lo be Wiled wUhoui warm*g or
chance of escape.

DEBUGGING: indcfflesthe lev* of
cfasnproo»ng. a program should not be
crashed simply by mawng an incorrect
orrtry or by Dressing an unfortunate
combtnabonofkeya.

OVERALL: general raling based on price
and the other ratings BUT NOT AN
AVERAGE OF THE OTHER RATINGS.

THE
ANTAGONISTS

94 CRASH August 1985

Producer:

Add iso n- Wesley

Publishing

Prfce: £5.95

Language: machine code

Authors: Hal Renko, Sam

Edwards, Hermie

Hermens

The Antagonist a Micro world
Adventure from Addison-
Wesley Publishing, follows
Arendarvon Castle, reviewed
last month. Once again you can
buy the book and type in the
program or buy both the book
and program. Both games have
a very similar format with an
interesting and highly inform-
ative book supporting unimag-
inative and somewhat primitive
software. It's difficult to do the
game justice in this review with
such lacklustre coding, so much
of what I will say will necessarily
pertain to the book which looks
very much like any other that
might be found lining the
shelves of a bookshop. Its
content is also impressive and
sets in motion a process I very
much admire in that it encour-
ages the pfayer to seek out and

use information from a dossier
file which, taken as a whole,
describes the strange world in
which you find yourself.

The file you carry has some
diary entries of one Albert
Ren shaw, more of whom later; a
book on flowers by a learned
professor; a publication from
the James Arwell Society com-
memorating one of the greatest
scientists who ever lived; and a
guide to INSECTOLAND, an
insect Disneyworld built m the
23 rd century.

Albert Renshav/s diary might
/ust be as boring as anyone
else s were it not for one thing -
in a world dominated by insects
and ruled by ants it was he who
had the dubious distinction of
being the last surviving member
of planet Earth, a sort of Omega
Man armed with fly spray. As
every budding 20th century biol-
ogist knows, the insects, which
are the largest single group of
animals on Earth, have one ser-
ious limitation imposed upon
them by the way in which they
breathe — through pores and
the tubes which lead from their
tough outer skeletons — which
prevents them from reaching
any threatening size. So why

IwaLeprie children.
Note the peculiar
hair-Htyleoften worn by

Uprie children, and the

absence of shoes; tho feet
ST 6 °^ en Wound *n r*gs.
The ball Is almost certainty
a found object.

doesn't our Renshaw chappie
don a targe pafr of boots and
simply walk all over his
assa HANTS?

Well the answer lies In the
curious delight afforded any-
blue blooded scientist by meddl-
ing in areas he knows next to
nothing about. In this case the
21st century had not only prod-
uced curios like chemical sociol-
ogy and psychological physics
but a wondrous growth hor-
mone which certainly grew i ivh
stock and foodstuffs more
quickly, but also had the discon-
certing effect of spawning
whopping great big creepy
crawlies which had the where-
withal! to try and flush YOU out
of the bath.

AM good science fiction turns
humour into a satirical scalpel,
and this book is no exception.
Two funnies stick in the mind
particularly. The first relates
how, as insects got bigger, so
did the movement concerned
with insect welfare and the
second how the prefaces to The
Book of Flowers tells of the way
in which a Professor Rosebush's
classification supercedes that of
the deceased Professor
Lanuski's even though Lanuski,
the previous editor of the trea-
tise, had expressly attacked
Rosebush's classification in an
earlier preface. Hence the pref-
aces relate how classifications
only last as long as their prop-
onents and, more generally,
how science is full of pompous
pedants.

Turning to the adventure

itself, much of the early play is
within fields and the caves
beyond them. Throughout the
adventure you must research
and make reference to your
dossier (which in reality is the
glossy softback book} and this
First part is no exception. In the
fields are scattered various
flowers and as you climb their
stems you relate the on-screen
information with that in the
Book of Flowers. This however
is no easy task as the program is
deviously sketchy with one or
two of its descriptions, but of
course, some are instantly
recognizable and you then refer
to the guide with renewed
confidence. The flowers are real-
istically, and usefully, divided
into the niches of marine, fresh,
swamp, wet and dry.

There's just a touch of sci-fi
philosophy within the James
Arwefl Soc publication. It puts
forward the hypothesis that the
hallmark of true genius lies not
in the complexity of a theory but
in its simplicity and accessibility
— and so it reckons Elvis Presley
and Michael Jackson were the
real geniuses when compared to
the Tikes of Bach, Mozart and
Beethoven. (An interesting
theory on the rise of popularism
and the decline of Radio 3). The
publication also tells of the
Lepries. who have a total lack of
physical beauty but are friendly
eno ugh f a nd t he Teni n s, who are
similar to elves but can change
rapidly in mood to become dark
and deceitful. Lepries enjoy a
kind of blueberry soup which

turns the leprie blue except for
the hands which become a
bright yellow hue.

The guide to INSECTOLAND
gives information and clues con-
cerning the various giant ants,
bees, flies, beetles and butter-
flies which inhabit the park. A
creature you will soon be look-
ing up in the guide is the glow-
worm which emits light during
its whole life-span, and we learn
how the production of light
decreases if the worm is depriv-
ed of honey.

The Antagonist is a fine book,
but the poor quality of the soft-
ware on the tape lets it down. It's
a little amateurish to expect the
player to type RUN after the first
part of the program has loaded
|n. The appearance of the screen
is very dull with the original
black Spectrum print left on a
glaring white background. If you
load the first part of this
program you may find it better
to then add 1 00 INK 6 : PAPER :
BORDER : CLS and then SAVE
'ANTAG' LINE 1 which will allow
an auto RUN.

Although the book creates a
good atmosphere, the location
descriptions in the program are
sparse and disappointing, Some
locations have nothing on your
present predicament but merely

tell you what is in adjacent
areas, which gives certain
regions an anonymous feel. As
with the first game, the vocab-
ulary is very limiting and there
doesn't appear to be any equiv-
alent of EXAMINE. The game is
not difficult but trying to correl-
ate the cave system to its text-
book equivalent may take some
time.

The Antagonist is a note-
worthy project but I feel more
effort could have gone into the
programming aspect which,
after all, is what most software is
all about!

COMMENTS

Difficulty: quite easy
Graphics: none
Presentation: poor
Input facility: generally verb/
noun though needs a weapon
specified for combat
Response: very fast
General Rating: detailed and
interesting book, program
locations poor

Atmosphere 7

Vocabulary 5

Logic 8

Addictive quality 6

Overall value 6

Lepries at leisure.

CRASH August 1985 95

'

^KMofr

This month's rnailbag sees
more comment on graphics,
help with Dragontorc and a
massive pile of help requests
from distraught adventurers. I
must thank everyone who sent
in help on games they had
artially or fully completed,
hese are a great help to me for
ie latter part ot SIGNPOST, so
keep them flowing. Anyway, I
won't waste any space that
;ould be taken up by Oli's
pictures so well get straight
into the letters

GRAPHICS f

Dear Derek,

There has been the argument
about graphics in adventures
going on for ages. Trouble is, the
latest trend is a graphic at every
location. And what are these
graphics? Repeat patterns
making up pictures that become
familiar very quickly, and so
they soon blend into one
another and you ignore them.

There should be fewer (about
twenty) excellently drawn
graphics which don't impinge
on the memory space needed
for vocabulary and location
descriptions. Remember
playing TheHobbitlW really was
a pleasant surprise after
completing a problem to find
another original graphic in the
next location. Graphics are so
much more enjoyable when you
don't expect them.

While I'm on the subject of
graphics . . . SIGNPOST appears
to be getting consumed by
artwork , wh en half of the two .
page spread of clues is a picture
(May), isn't it a bit much?
Andrew Walker, Sheffield.

The length of SIGNPOST is
usually determined by the
length of time between
finishing ADVENTURE TRAIL
and the copy date for CRASH or,
as this is usually a negative
number - one week after the
copy date. The May SIGNPOST
was a bit short — I'll try and do
better! DB

96 CRASH August 1985

1

J

GRAPHICS 2

Dear Crash,

My favourite adventures have
been Valkyrie 17. Cold it* , Ket,
The Hobbit and Roman Eureka.
The best place for an adventure
is the past or present because!
find it easier to relate to places
from my experience or
knowledge of history. 1 find
adventures set in the future
difficult to relate to as 1 have no
knowledge of such places!
(Snowball, Ship of Doom etc.}

Graphics should be used on
about 50% of locations and
should be very colourful and
about the same si^e as those in
Coiditi, Knight's Quest and
Magic Mountain, Clues to what
is in the I oca li on should not be
shown in the graphics, they
should be hidden in the text,
unless of course the picture
changes with your actions as in
Voikyne 17,

Speech and character
interaction are a must as shown
in The Hobbit,

Stephen Atherton, Workington,
Cumbria.

Must admit, with games like
Gremlins, I'm getting won over
to graphics. However, as I've
always said, if they are included
they must be of good quality.
DB

DRAGON TALK

Dear Derek,

On reading SIGNPOST I was
glad to see you dumping the
debugging rating and including
Addictive Quality, and whilst I
agree that a comment is best for
rating graphics I think that Mike
Robert is right in asking for
Getting Started and Payability
as these affect an adventure just
as much as they da an arcade
game.

Going back to Mike Roberta
letter, where I do not agree with
him is when hesaysAva/oaand
TirNa Nog aren't adventures. I
would say that they are, as even
the worst adventure player can
complete these but an arcade
champ wouldn't stand a chance
unless he had brains as well as
reflexes. I think that tips on these
games could be moved out of
Robin Candy's overflowing
playing tips into SIGNPOST. To
help begin this, hefe are some
tips tot Dragon tore, they don J f
tell you everything so you'll
have to do some work for
yourselves!

In general: Make a detailed

map!

Elves kill goblins, skeletons,
axemen and devils. Missile
Spells kill these and some
Spiders, The warrior spells (in
Medyn's Cave) kill most

atures but not things like
fireballs. Lit torches are useful
against snakes. If you need to
use a spell in the next room
quickly, scroll to it and press left
or right. Wow when you enter
the room you will be ready to
use the spell straight away.

Last month's tips in CRASH
will have left you in Ha Igor's
Sanctuary (if you could n't find ft,
try moving Ha Igor's seal over a
siab at the Dragon's Teeth}.
Going through the door, move
the seal over the 3 spiders to get
the Slow, Mantle and Return
spells Cast Return to take you to
Halgor's tornb and Find a key,
this opens the door to a room

lining a glowing anvil
which you will need when you
have 4 crowns.

DREAMDOWMS : Find a squirrel
and bow inside a box, Give the
bow to an elf get a nut and crack
the nut with the squirrel; there's
9 key inside. Go through a dark
room into the ruins of the cantii

!Hk

£

^k!

cm \ L(-s

SPECTRUM 48K
AMSTRAD464

£9.95

GARGOYLE GAMES LTD., 74 KJNG STREET, DUDLEY, WEST MIDLANDS DY2 8QB
Telephone: (Sales) 0384 238777 (General) 0384 237222

and let your elf kill off all the axe
throwers. Open a box wfth the
key to get a magic symbol which
takes you down to some more
ruins. I'll just say that there's a
crown down there somewhere,
and that the Light Spell in
Witchwoods will be useful . . .
but I'll leave the rest up to you.

WITCHWOODS : Here can be
found a frog, a bat and a herd:
take these to the cauldron to get
a wand which can be used to
find a halfmoon, combine this
with 'the vault key lies in
sanctuary' message,

TORHENGE : Find a rather cute
bunny and rake him to soi i le
burrows to find his friend and a
key. This key opens a box with a
symbol inside. Now take your
bunnies to some carrots, to find
a slab which is opened by the
symbol and go down to the
Cursed Crypt, By taking various
symbols to signs on the walls
that produce skeletons- you can
reveal a leycube and escape.

DRAGONS TEETH : As well as
Halgor's Sanctuary you can find
a divining rod which will
uncover a Bane spell in the
leaves and a crystal of
antithought in a pool,

TROLL STONES ; find a coin in
the stump and chuck it in the
pool to enter Hellsmoutb. Get an
axe and smash the stone In the
cyan room to find a key which
opens a box with a magic
symbol in it. Use this to uncover
a leycube to get back out.

WYRM CRAG : Swap jewels
with the elves for a key (opens a
box that contains a spell) and a
torch, which can be lit at a fire
and used to kill snakes. In the fire
clearing, open a box and give
the bow inside to the third elf;
the key you receive will open the
door to the Citadel of Mo rag-
Take an elf in with you; he will
kill almost anything and when
he dies go and fetch another
one. Use The detect spell to
reveal invisible goblins and use
Undo on a green key to stop it
producing snakes; it will open a
box with another key inside
which opens doors leading to
Morag herself I
A Bailey, Carshalton, Surrey.

I do tend to think these type of
games should be included in
A.T. and SIGNPOST, however
Robin Candy and the Big Boss
tend to be confused on this
matter. Problem is they're so
good everyone wants lo write
about (that's a euphemism for
play! | them. Anyway I'll award a
prize of Dun Darach to th is letter
since I got stuck down a hole at
the beginning (If you're
confused, so was II). DB

I've had so many tetters from successful explorers asking if the v
S^pES ■complete a certain adventure I've decided to start a
fcUitHHEROES section in the October issue, The first person to
complete a particular adventure will achieve fame (the Buss won't
allow any fortunes! I by having his or her name and achievements
published To qualify you must give the date you completed the
game (it shouldn t be much different to the postmark on the
envelope), a few hints on how you achieved it and most importantly
what happened at the end. Games reviewed before the July issue
don t qualify as they will already have been completed many times

Steve Richardson, from
Aylesbury asks: Could you
please tell me how to obtain
money in Valkyrie 17 and also
how to enter the cable car? To
obtain money, you will need to
QBXO UIF OFDLMB0F JO
UPXO. From the town you can
use the cable car by UZ JOH UIF
TUSJOH UP UIF MFyVFS Eariier
on in the same game,
Christopher Man ley of Norwich
is having difficulty arriving at
the bottom of the ski slope
alive! You must first SFBE UIF
CPPLJQUIFiPUFM.

The Guardians in The final
Mission are still causing
problems, Philip Difoko from
Glasgow writes for help in
passing Guardians 1, 2, 4 and 5
Guardian 2 is a red herring.
Guardian 4 asks red circle, green
square, what has Edgar that the
arrow hasn't? Answer HB.
Subtract SFE GSPN FEHBS. I
gave the answer to no 5 last
month and I'll leave no 1 for
another day!

In Veinor'sLa/rG, L Levouich
from Norway has fed the
Crocodiles and has a bath tub
but is still unable to cross the
river. You need the PBST GSPN
UIFUSPMMIvlBJS.

Recent Adventure International
games have proved exceedingly
popular. About the game
Spiderman, W. White of
Alders hot writes; If your spider
sense tingles towards electro
you can jump out of the way of
his electrical bolt but how do
you defeat Doctor Octopus or
Electro and start the computer
controlled presses?. To defeat
them both together HFU PDUP,
UU FMFDUSP. Also in this
adventure, Murdoch Macdonald
is having problems with the
Ringmaster. To defeat him G.VTI
LOPC, UVSO LOPC.

In The Hulk, Lee Blaber from
Leicester is unable to attract the
ants to follow him to rescue
Ant-man, Simply HFU BOUT.

In the excellent Gremlins. Keith
Rangasamy of Croydon is
having progress restricted by
the locked door. To open it you
will need to ESPQ HJANP
CFTJEF TNBTIFE WFOU.

'JSftM this hJfldu dwod^fl, «<**iw !

wraffjast thecKflft thj BWMH- iHBCPfcFftwuKL

ktte«5 tn Imn^frter- one ^ jjjjfrtt JU: "acpt twiwu*

Andrew Fairbaim of Wickford,
Essex is having difficulty
passing the beast in the well in
Artie's Eye of Bain. You should
DBSS2 SVCZ, TBZ 'GJSF\ This
solution was kindly provided by
a Richard Evans.

In Snowball '. Robert Hardy from
London is having difficulty
reviving a crew member
without her screams attracting
a nightingale. You will need to
provide a DSJOL,

The Angel of Death in lower of
Despair has proven
troublesome for many
adventurers, J. Edwards is
having difficulty finding the
dagger to use against it. At the
start of the game you must
QSBZJOU1FDIBQFNL

I wasn't going to answer any
more questions on Kentilla as
I've gfven away most of the
game already, however, Steve
Hull from Kettering has
managed to bribe me and
writes; Please, please, please,
could you include this in your
SIGNPOST column, in your
magazine?

My anger is growing due r,o
the fact that J just cannot get into
Tylon's castle or get past the
staircase in the Black Tower.
Also what has rhe Carawood
Oracle to do with any of these?

By the way please tell me how
to get the iron bar without
getting the Black Death? Do you
need to kill the guard in the
tower or just persuade him to let
you pass,

If Timandra dies as he has
done, is there any way in which
he can be brought back to Iffe?

Al so p lease tell me how to use
the velmista.

I do like these nice short
questions! Anyway, to get into
Tylon's castle you will need
Zelda and Timandra alive, I'm
afraid when anyone's dead •
that's it! To net up the stairs the
Guard must be defeated,
remember Trolls are allergic to
sunlight! When you get the iron
rod you always catch the Black
Death, You must cure yourself.
As forthe Velmista, it can be
eaten.

After all this I hope your
cheque is now in the post Steve!

And that's it for another
month, I've runout of time
again. Please send letters to
SIGNPOST, CRASH MAGAZINE,
P.O. Box 10, Ludlow.
Shropshire, SY81DB.

48K Spectrum

chponrdes of the Und of faiRUqht
i . a pReLufte: the Light Revealed

J?aii%/it

K

ByBOjanqeBORQ

(author of The Artist 1 )

The first example of the revolutionary 3D "Worldmaker" technique

12/13 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8LH Tel: 01-240 1422/7877 Telex: 892379

V«A V

^? * of** 9** e J jutf* 8 * i v* anions

>jt; U &&* «?*£Sv- ra , e Mount
*>* S rt a host of 0*«£ y heaf VO« scale * in

tov ,l a ^hatve / 9°. " °t to eat s" *« *S£, » * e

No. rfdo*te0*«*°&ffi «"*ag&i*; I

100 CRASH August 1985

by Rosetta McLeod

...ON THE NEED FOR
DOCUMENTATION AND
BACKUP MATERIAL

I imagine that many readers of this column will have been watching
the series of programmed \Ue Learning Machine onBSC television
which look at the use of computers in education

paint that was made quite forcibly by teachersand educatiot ,

3 wrio were interviewed about the merits or demerits of edoe

phonal software, was that publisher s are simply not listening to what

the V >■ is Few teachers woukf buy a textbook to

extend the ghfii I 0n , and MtfaM said he would
have fkeda story lo go alongwith the package. ** a ™ would
IS now an mcressmn nnmh*r ™f nrnn « „__«■ ._ ,

reas of activity. Programs

marketing.

' m - & y 5K J25* 5?* ■ These . Produce, s bemoan The facT

- V would also sell more software'

PICTURE
LOGIC

Producer: Addison
Wesley Software

■vicinity it^qurieu. «*or\
Retail price; £22.75

ylurS , JSw tS^2I' , ?%/? r u! *» accessed From any point in

and Malcolm IMeave
Age range: Primary
school children

POST-

PAT'S

J and then ENTERED as a block cor

an arrow displayed on the after the END statement, A fur- CQmpuim 9
screen [Picture logic'' ersta lortcoming it that the

of jhe Logo Turtfefc which the maximum angle that can be

gedrrtettn pat* I liictuces. n | r limiting ,.,

in order to tell the arrowhead that the child is not able to see

What tf'l tin th» rhilrl ni «.dL- I,-. tU„ ._!_■,., _i _:_ ._ _ .

COMMENTS

This program is, of course,
based on the popular character
Postman Pat from the children's
books and the television series.
The aim of the game is to drive
Postman Pars van around

keyboard to enter Logo-type si which has left a trail or

nstrucEions.

iMMlM

turn throut

". i 'i with all Logo-type rees is a,„
softwa ■ ■..,.. Logic'% most move men 1 5

to govern I keyboard play: ve-

Points are lost each time the van

is driven into the verge or into a

Keyboard play: very s cow blocking the road, and the

and'return to the post office, the
— j: clearly drawn fewer time penalty points you

General rating: Hie slowness of lose,

; The game has six levels of dif-

onris IvnaJbiL ™h 1 con ™ and * ramming detracts from theadv- higher the level/ the more cows

>nos avalable and rf n optional antages of the language it seeks will be blocking the road and the

«g explanation of the effect of each to emulate - LO, player needs to dttide^tta
102 CRASH August 1985

jg-—*

to wait uriti l UiH animals move m

possibly trying a short ei.n in-

' of following the I racks on

the road, The van is moved with

l IMm Vf.fflMffi.il llBilfeMl

for developing manual dexterity
as well as for
awareness oi d re^ nans.

Although children love any-
thing to do with Postman Pat, I
didn't find that this program
held their interest for very
A bit more variety in thr
would have livened things up a
bit, and the irritating ' sound
drove us all to disli action after a
while.

I welcome programs, based
on popular characters, which
have been written for young
children but it would be nice to
see the games directly related to
stories In which the characters

PARTY

TIME

Producer: Argus Press

Software

Memory required: 48K

Retail price: £7.95

Writer: Computertutor

(Clever Clogs series)

Age range: 3 years and

appear. (r> this way,. U ij

stories before playing the

■s. The inclusion of more

iled guidance for parents

'"Ottld also be useful, as prog-

ms like this tor the very young

child are beneficial onFy w

amount of ado It support.

COMMENTS

Control keys: move van with
cursor keys -5,6,7,8, Much
easier with the joystick option.
Keyboard play: Keys have to be
pressed very firmly, which is a
problem for the very younq
child,

Use of colour: bright and clear
General rating; quite good for
thevery young [■■■■ child

Five and six year olds I i
rathen, imnspi'i 1 :. g

fy the maximum

be used in the counting game
and the highest number a
ed in the answers to the addition
game and can also enter specific
numbers and letters for the child
to practice with,

The final two games, GV
Paintbox, are partn
good for developing manual co-
ordination and directional sense
— my younq testers enj
Paintbox most of all the g ;
The player begins by selecting
the colour he or she wishes to
use and c;i; - traw onto the

UlD,

This superb package contains
six simple educational games
'•ry young children. At the
start, the player sees on the
screen an invitation to the party,
tln-n the list of tl •■• I & Which

can be piayed (sometimes the
computer will choose the game
which is to be played). All of the
games are very short, so tha
child does not become bored
and lose interest too easily, and
they all end with a burst of
music, which he or she will soon
come to recognise.

In Matchup, the computer
draws a set of five shapes, one of
which has to be matched with
the sixth shape which is drawn.
ting t Find It a nd How Man y
all teach the use of numbers,
simple arithmetic and basic key-
board skills. The parent can

screen. If a printer is attached, a
permanent record of the picture
can be output, which could then

be coloured in

This is an extremely well-
package and, as with
all the Clever Clogs programs,
has been thoroughly researched
with the help of children,
teachers and parents

COMMENTS

Control keys: parents can
choose which keys to feature m
some of the ga\
Keyboard play: very resEp
Use of colour: very good
Graphics: very clear
General rating: highly reconY
■ led

JUMBLE

•!• I' MrUiWi.iI*!'

Software

Memory required: 48K

Retail price: £7.95
Writer: Computertutor
(Clever Clogs series)
Age range: 5 and over

v;.\. ,„v ...

Fhis user friendly pro;
contains two gatftes foi •,
children. In the first, the player
a series of quest-
ions ' i reveal a pii
of either a real animal o-
animal The questions are
mainly based en simple arkl>
me tic and genet a I knot/,
such as: '2 stars plus 3 ^itars
How iVteny?' and 'I'V
mummy? Hbull,2fcGw, 3)ram'

When the child has success -
t flfy revealed the animal, then
he pi .In-' i.:rju move on to the

ie in which the |
has to move a car, controlled by
the cursor keys, across
cow it i, ' "lie camp in only
40 moves. Occasionally an
animal will pop out and
player is asked to type in the first
letter of its name

Like most of the programs in

the Cf&vet iJiui.}^ series, Jungle

mlains ihe facility for

editing or resetting the q

ions, , Ips are

to do H !-,.
My yoi i", ;

h ' i ; . : •

particularly m the

■

COMMENTS

Control keys: answers io be

typed mautlENTERFD. C^ s
keyst;.

CAPS SHIP TandQ for Pat?
page

Keyboard Play : very responsive
Use of colour: good
Graphics: good on the whole,
though a co of animals
tricky to identify
General rating: recommended.
Children will enjoy it, and as the
•on scan be changed

s good value for
money, You can also k i

i est ions from a eft
tape (sec following review)

CRASH August 1985 103

aSfcw

SCIENCE

Producer; Argus Press

Software

Memory required: 48K

Retail price: £5.95

Writer: Computertutor

(Clever Clogs series)

Age range: 5 to 9 years

This is a science data pack for
use with the other Clever Clogs

jPage, then load in the data of

your choice, There are 6 sets uf
data to choose rrom, each set
containing 100 questions:
Latins work!; Physical Sciences;
Mathematics and General
nee 12 and 3, Living WorM,
for instate, contains questions
suih as 'We can mov
of our 1) skin r 2} Irver, 3i
musctes?' and 'What makes
bread rise? u air. 2) yeas*, 3',
mo \UV.

I used thi |. -,rions with
Jungle Jumble, bw the data
would be more suitable with a

• above, both for use
in the home and in schools.

FRENCH
VOCAB-
ULARY

Producer: Rose Software

Memory required:

16/48K

Retail price: £6.95

Age range; aimed at 'O'

Level pupils

I am 10' as the translation for
Jai dix arts'. The only accept-
able answer is 'I am ten years
bfd'. Having said that, howevei, f
am sure that the package will be
of use to pupils studying for the
Q Level examination, although
I found it to be rather dull and
itive — but studying for
exams can be dull and rep:'
at the best of times f

I doubt, though, that the in-
centives for ach rev I n g s u c cess i n
some of th: is \ building

a wail with the words 'Tt#s I
written on it, in one case) will

This French vocabulary p,h ■

aimed at the 'O* Level pup
first three test knowledge on
specific topics such as shop-
weather, (he home and

e user cane! I osel
several options, transl

The fourth program is the Keyboard play: very stow
homework tester, which allows Use of colour, adequate
I he user to type in words in order Graphics: reasonable

respectively.

have much appeal lor fifteen or

COMMENTS

Control keys: answers a re typed

although the six programs
i I found include a variety of topics, the
[wrth the programs in this pack- presentation could haw.

Hi rsM«ihlliM*i JinnfSnr

CHEMISTRY

Producer: Merit/Cloud 9
Software

Memory required: 4SK

Retail price: £3.45

Age range : up to '0' Level

The programs in this package
have been designed specifically
for use in conjunction with the

the hands of an experienced
teacher, the programs might be
useful. The experiment simul-
ations could never rival the

••"■IBM of actually pad
ating in an experiment in the
• lab, but of course that!
isn't the purpose of the pad-
Certainly, for revision purposes.
the cassette would be qurte use-
ful, and some of the games are

game — inspector Ktuedeau -

prospect ive pure

TitfS

rjciaia, ntfetctfons. Gnses and
tiectFQcft^mis&Y The idea is
that the user completes the rel-

COMMENTS

1 accept the answers ' I am ten 'or I software protr;
104 CRASH August 1985

boSs iZht^S PUr ~ Vouog chemists^
Sn LL Z h Che ? VSIry W0Lltd P'Obably frnd it very

will have much impact, but in u-

48 K Spectrum

THL

The ultimate?

"I can only label [The Artist] with that often misapplied

adjective, 'ultimate'." B. Kmghi, Mortimer, Berks.

"Saturday, Just received "The Artist,' It's now Monday, where
did the weekend go?.. .truly superb." J. Hughes, Wintersbw, Wits,
four Spectrum reviewed the best graphics packages for the
Spectrum; Paintplus, Light Magic, Leonardo, and The Artist.
The Artist won hands down with a.5/5 rating. It was judged
the best in every category of testing: best UGD creator,
fastest to use (2V? times faster than its closest rival Paintplus,
and 6 times faster than Leonardo), easiest to use t outstanding
airbrush effect and astounding facility to paint with patterns,
"Only The Artist has got it right."
"An amazingly complex screen took only half an hour to
produce..,"
"The FILL commands are wonderfully versatile,.."

"...it has so many goodies that you're bound to find one l! i

help you do exactly what you want."

"-..advanced colour editor."

"Who needs a Macintosh when you've got a Spectrum and

this program/ AH it needs is a mouse and you've saved your

two grand!"

Your Spectrum, June 1985 issue.

The Artist is compatible with the Wa fad rive, Microdrive and

can be obtained for use with some disk drives (write for

details).

Equally ideal whether you simply wish to 'doodle! or whether

you're an expert looking for a 'serious graphics package on a

home computer.

Qulce simply the ultimate graphics package for your Sinclair

Spectrum,

12/13 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8LH Tel: 01-240 1422/7877 Telex: 892379 SOFTER G

PROFANATION

(i

Producer: Gremlin

Graphics

Memory required: 48K

Retail price: £6.95

Language: machine code

Author: Victor Ruiz

This is the second of the two
Spanish games from Dinamic
Soft to be released by Gremlin
this month (the other being the
boxing simulation, Roceo). It is,
in its simplest form, a platform
gam© cum arcade adventure. So
why Profanation? Weil r it's not
that it might be blasphemous to
buy or even play — there's
nothing remotely immoral
about it. Neither has it got any-
thing to do with the fact that a
few profanities wit J escape your
tips during play. No, the pro-
fanity is the Pharoah's curse that
has been fruff icted upon our poor
hero and intrepid explorer,
Johnny Jones {Pause for breath)
Gasp! Shock! Horror!

Vep, the highly inquisitive
Johnny's gom and got himself
trapped in the Temple of Abu
Simbel, erected over 3,000 years
ago by Ramses M himself, no
less. This temple wasn't the only
thing left behind by the Pharoah
(cue V/nce Price voiceover) No,
there was also the threat that an
evif spell would be set upon any-
one brave or foolhardy enough
to enter the Pharoah's tomb! All
the tempte's secrets remained
hidden from the curious eyes of
humanity for over 30 centuries.
That was, until JJ decided to
take, a took. Now he's been
fumed into a hideously deform-
ed .. . well, thing is the best
description I can think of (I don't
think he looks so bad, in fact he's
quite cute ■ he looks rather like
an armless purple spud on legs,
with a large nose and for some
strange reason he's always smil-
ing — obviously nose some-
thing we don't!).

So now JJ's in a mess, or
rather a tomb. (Cue tense muzak
..,.) Can J J free himself from the
spell and find his way to the
mortuary chamber and discover
its secrets . . . ? Welt he can if he
can get out of the first location!
The Temple itself consists of
45 chambers, each containing
its own platform arrangement
and particular group of nasties.
Most of the nasties move in
regular, predictable patterns
while others are stationary prob-
lems such as spikes that
shouldn't be fallen on. Other
cosmetic things adorn the
locations such as spider webs
and skeletons. The screen flips
to the next location on moving
from chamber to chamber
ratherthan scrolling.

Large slabs of stone are
present in some locations,
blocking further progress and
they can only be moved by 'col-
lecting' the correct 'keys'
{touching small blocks with

CRASH August 1985

heiroglyphs on them). There are
also a number of traps through-
out the temple's 46 locations
that are only noticable once
you've fallen into one! You soon
learn what's what Deeper into
the temple there's a large
coloured diamond (I won't say
what that's used for}, deadly
pools, stalactites that fall and
crumble, snakes, mummies, a
row of stepping stones over a
river of pirhanas and some
damn-near- impossible-to-
negotiate Van der Graff gener-
ator thingies amongst a multi-
tude of other objects.

Control is simple left/ right
movement with two heights of
jump (depending on howTaryou
need to safely leap} - a normal
jump or an extra high one. You
initially start with ten lives —
believe me, you need 'em — and
one is lost each time you hit
something nasty, such as a
deadly water drip, a spinning
monolith or even some spikes
for example (usually found in
traps).

The instructions are deliber-
ately sparse, giving only a brief
scenario, the keys used and how
to load the game (always use-
ful). This is to allow you to find
out things for yourself , . . welt
there are arcade adventure over-
tones, after all.

CRITICISM

• 'This is one hell of 8 difficult
game to play, but one I didn't
find too off putting because of it.
The graphics are very good, the
main character being humor-
ously and well animated. I par-
ticularly like the way he looks
innocentfy around if left stand-
ing doing nothing for a while.
Other characters and objectsare
very well defined/animated and
colour clash is very rare (even
when it does occur it's rarely
offensive). The title screen
music wasn't bad, nor were the,
sound effects Although Profan-
ation doesn't offer anything
outstandingly original in terms
of gamepfay, it does offer a
tough challenge for it's price/

• 'Ten lives, that's surely a gen-
erous helping . . . &r is it? Well, if
perhaps another zero was
added, then if would feel about
right This is a pretty evil game,
its got lots of nasties in store to
kill off the unwary adventurer.
The graphics are great, they
really give an authentic, spooky
atmosphere. To compliment
this, you are portrayed as a zany-
iookmg creature. Abu Symbel is
simply a brill game that is as
hard as it is good. Its difficulties

will frustrate you, while its
charms will addict you. Mot for
the casual player; pro s only!'

• Those of you who despise

platform games wifl probably
find yourself loathing this one as
it is incredibly difficult and
proves too frustrating to be
worth playing for any great
length of time. There's not a
great deal new about it, with the
usual monotonous left/right/
jump stuff that is found in your
average platform game. The
graphtcs are the most appealing
aspect of the whole game with
some excellent sprites and a
great use of colour all round.
The sound wasn't too hot and
the title screen music drove me
up the wall. Still, any platform
freaks who still enjoy this sort of
thing will probably love it, but
the rest of you shouldn't expect
too much.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: O/P left/right, Q-

T/A-G high /low jump

Joystick: Kempston

Keyboard play: good

Use of colour: excellent

Graphics; very good

Sound: good

Skill levels: 1

Lfves: 10

Screens: 45

General rating; a good but very

difficult game, nothing

outstanding though

Use of computer 62%

Graphics 86%

Payability 75%

Getting started 54%

Addictive qualities 80%

Value for money 73%

Overall 78%

The first screen from PROfANATtON. Inside Phoreh's pad,
the quest begins.

55G

SS3SC?

3C

01 LlVCi - 85

O * K ~" /V ^ r^rr* f C

£6.95

Before your eyes your friends, your family are

rendered helpless, transformed to lesser beings - birds

and mice - by the invading Kremins. But by a cruel twist of

fate the transformation leaves you with the body of a bird but

the brain of a human.You are the last

chance the human race has left.

-^

Gremlin Graphics, Alpha House, 19 Carver Street, Sheffield S1 4FS. Tel: (0742) 7534Z3

That's enough captions, get on with the blurb — Ed

Another super-dooper offer to whet your appetite for
a CRASH subscription, courtesy of the Marketing
Minion. We have arranged a way for joystick less and
CRASH less persons to put their lives in order, through
a money-saving SUBSCRIPTION OFFER.

After much arm-twisting, nagging and general
abuse, a Big Cheese from Frel Limited was persuaded
to offer new subscribers to CRASH the opportunity to
purchase a COMCON joystick interface at the for the
super low, halved price of £10.00 as opposed to the
normal £19,95.

The offer is only open to new subscribers, who sign
up during the month of August. If you want to avail
yourself of this offer, then whizz Auntie Carol Kinsey
— known to her chums in Mail Order as 'Aggie' — a
cheque for the normal subscription cost, £14.50, plus
the ten pounds for the COMCON, making a grand total
of £24.50. Not a bad deal. Depending on how you look
at it you're getting a year's worth of CRASH for £4.55
and a COMCON at full price, or saving a tenner on the
usual price of the Joystick Interface voted 'Best
Hardware Add-on' in the 1984 CRASH Readers
Awards.

And if you're already a subscriber to our
rnagazinipoos, don't despair! You can also make a
killing by sending a cheque or postal order to Auntie
Carol for £12.50 along with your subscriber code
number, in return for which you'll be sent your very
own COMCON in a personally addressed Jiffy Bag,
lovingly stapled shut by Carol's own fair hands, and
adorned with . . . ( That's enough —Ed).

WHAT YOU
GET IN
CRASH

-

• -

panel hei

p /°9rammable
ftstick Interh
™ Specfru

Mad

Gin UK

I
I
I

■

I
I

DEAR AUNTIE AGGIE, YES PLEASE!

'm sooo tempted by the chance of subscribing to CRASH and
avoiding the trudge round news agents to find a copy that hasn't
been sold, that I'm going to subscribe to your pinnacle of publishing
produce. As I'm such a creep, I'd like you to send me twelve issues of
CRASH (One a month for the n&xl year, mind, no cheating! ) and a
COM CON. So here's a cheque or postal order for £24.50,

Yus! I'd love to save seven and s half pounds on a COMCON, and I
can, cos I'm a smart cookie and already subscri be to CRASH. Here's
my money and subscriber code number. Staple that Jiffy baa for me
Aggie babes

Oh dear! You've not tempted me to buy a COMCON/I'm terribly
broke, what with summer hols/I've already got a COMCON but
would still like CRASH through the post/1 haven't got a Spectrum,
but still love reading CRASH (delete where applicable). Therefore I'd
just like to subscribe at the normal price of £14,50 and here's the loot.

2S ££ f ^ ( ?!? PR ^ TE B0X - MAKE 0UT CHEQUE OR POSTAL ORDER
TO CRASH and fill m your name and address— and subscriber
code number if applicable.

Name , , . . . ,

Address

POSTCODE ' [[ " "

NB We can onfy accept cheques drawn on a UK bank, postal orders
and hard crinkly cash. Stamp collections will not be taken in part

exchange, and remember, it's wise to avoid sending cash through
the post if you possibly can.

CRASH MAGAZINE

PO BOX 10 Ludlow, Shropshire

SY81DB

BE ADVENTUROUS!

A chance to win some free software and T Shirts
by applying your knowledge of adventure games.

SPOT THE ADVENTURE
AND WIN A PRIZE!

Just for fun, here's a CRASH
Quiz which give the adventure
players amongst you the edge
when it comes to working out
the answers. The mad scalpel-
wielders in the Art Department
have taken their weapons to the
packaging of five well-known
adventure games for the
Spectrum, and lopped bits off
them.

If you reckon you're a bit of a
smartie when it comes to
adventures, (no, foots, not a little
round lump of chocolate with a
sugar coating — perhaps you'd
better give up RIGHT NOW}, if
you reckon you can identify an
adventure game cover at fifty
paces in a snowstorm. ....here's
your chance to cash in.

What you need to do is
identify the games from the bits
of cover printed here and jot
down their names on a bit of
paper or postcard together with
your address and whizz it to
AUGUST CRASH QUIZ, PO BOX
10, LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE,
SY8 10B to arrive by 29th
August. First three correct
solutions out of the boot of
Jeremy's Morgan on that day
win £25 worth of software of
their choice plus a CRASH T
Shirt, and three runners up wilt
have to make do with a CRASH T
Shirt nestling on its own in a
lovingly hand-crafted padded
envelope.

110 CRASH August 1985

'uiz

■

IZ

WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS

Sean Stephenson has been in touch, with a mini-thesis on CRASH
competitions. He points out that there are three kinds of CRASH
Comp — and he is wondering how many people enter the different
competitions; 'How much chance do I stand of winning?', he writes,
I am beginning to think, as manv other readers probably are, thai
there is no point in entering your competitions because it is a waste
of stamp money',

OH HE OF IfTTLE FAITH! Here I am, slaving away, sorting out lots
and lots of prizes for you lot to win, and then this fellow writes in
muttering about wasting stamp money! How dare he. One measely
stamp is all you need to enter every competition in an issue of the
magazine, a mere 17 pee if you put each entry in a separate envelope
mi ii*-? 00 put a " VOur COfn P €t ' tio11 entries in one envelope marked
MULTIPLE ENTRIES. A waste of stamp money indeed. And if things
are really bad, you could always squander 13 pee on a second class
stamp!

Six competitions on average, in each issue. Several hundred
prizes up for grabs every month — all you need is a bit of luck and
some skill, and you could walk away with a copy of the latest game

. some hardware . . . T-Shirts ... all sorts of things. The odds are
pretty good, all things considered - you're probably facing odds of a
couple of hundred to one each month if you enter all the compel
ittons, and if you invest less than twenty pence a month for a whole
year, then you could end up spending £2 50 - a budget game 's worth
of loot — a nd be i n with a twenty o r thirty to one chance of winn ing
at least one prize.

Anyway, enough maths. Kind regards to Mr Gaz Sumpter who
offered to Hoover El Corpufento's Morgan for me while I washed it
every Monday, but our Jeremy is very fussy about who he lets near
his motor . . . only the very best minions are allowed to work for our
Software editor And I expect that Graeme Kidd fellow will start
handing out a tough time, now Roger Keen has moved on. It's timB I
joined a union.

On with the results.

JACK IN MAGICLAND COMPETITION

Fifty copies of Turtle's Jack in Magictand go whizzing off (one each,
one each) to:

Philip Anderson. Hollins Cres, HGT 2JG; Anon, Chestnut Lane, HP6 6EN-
Atexander Baker, Meadow Cottage, C83 7SY; Andrew Barber Cagefield Road
SS4 2BE; M Beaumont, St Andrews Drive, WF11 8PX; Paul Burns, Cypress
Grove, 5QW; Daniel Campbell. Warbreck Hill Road, FY2 OTR; James Close,
Clifton Road, Derby; Michael Cook Ladysmfth Road, EN1 3AO; Merlin Cox. St
Marys Walk. SET T 4UA: Kevin Crabb, Wes'sex Road. BH14 88Q; Stephen Cutis,
Park Crescent, HX3 5EL; A Qavies, Rugby Avenue. SA11 1YT; Garry Davison,
Eton Drrve, DN17; R Handforth, Brown & Root Ltd. SWT9: Alan Hourirnane,
Merton Road. WN3 SAG; Cari Isherwood, Springfield Street, West Glamorgan;
Jock, Kender House, SW7; S Kedwards, Cheswood Drive, B768XU; Dave Kelly,
PorthiH Road. SYS 8RN; James Matnab, Harvey Terrace, PA12 4HB; M Main!
Pelegarth, NE61 5JY; J Malone, Greenwood Drive, E4 9HL; James Martin]
Leaches Farm. EX1S 7HH; Neil McDowafl, Ash field House, 5P2 TEG; Norman
McLaughlin, Carnlea Road, 6T43 6TS; Paul Mcleish, Taunton Avenue WN7
5PT; Anne Menneer. Nahpusker Road, TR27 5JR; Chris Moss. Goodmans Lane,
C06 1 NE; Robert Norton. Paget Road. WV6 ODX; Stephen Nye, Nunney Road,
BAH 4LD; BOakas, College Road, Rugby; Tolkien Otborn, Alleyn Road, SE2T
SAT; David Payne, Crofts End. 0X11 OSA; J Riddell, Albany Drive, CT6 8SJ;
Richard Rooke, Overdale Crescent, M31 36R; D Rose, Marlwood, NG12 3NS;
Mark Rose, Newberries Avenue, W07 7ES; Andrew Rumsby, Lanyon Road.
TR3 6HF; Jason RusselS, Rowan Drive, RH14 9NE; Adrian Samler, Eldarfield
Cres, 0X11 ORY; Bryan Scott, Beech Grove, NE9 7RD; Viv SrtadboJt, Beech-
wood Avenue, SG8 6BQ; M Shepherd, Andersey Way, 0X14 5NW; Susie
Tinkler, Babingtey Drive, LE4 OHH; Marcus Tyler-Moore, Speedwell Way, RH12
4WA; Daniel Wilson, The New House. CM23 1HX; Grant Wilson. Windsor
Drive, Y038RZ,

GRAND NATIONAL COMP

Elite's competition for their Horse Racing game Grand National
attracted a bumper crop of entries — knowledgeable bunch of
people you are. How many CRASH readers take SPORTING LIFE
every day? I am left wondering. Anyway, here's the twenty five
winners who will soon receive their Elite Six Pack:

Craig Aldred, Windy Ridge, NR29 5DR: Anthony Barley, Woodstock Road, SMS
3D2; L Barnsbaw, Brookfield Avenue, WR7 5RE; Graham Berrtley, Cordery
Road, LE5 6DB; Nigel Cook, Highcroft Avenue, West Midlands; G Dawson,
Grevilie Road, CV8 1 EL; M rs Dimmock, Kingsfold, Milton Keynes; Joseph Fyfe,
Inveresk Street, G32 6QN; Damian Garside, Huddersfield Road. West Yorks;
Jamie Gordon, Wstton Cottage, SGt4 3RB.: Chris Hopkins. Heathcote Road

BS16 40L; Matthew Levett, Sunsler Lane, BN26 5HS; Barry Mansfield,
Dromore. DA14 6AN; Tony Meadweh, Offa Road, MK42 9HZ; David Payne]
Craftsend, 0X11 OSA; Simon Poluck, Castle Drive, IG4 5AE; Chris Robinson'
Tuaxt Street, DH3 3EN; Scott Rudden, Burnfoot Road, TD9 8EJ; Ian Seymoor'
Queens Road, DN6 QLU; Edward Sherwood, Cleveland Road, West Yorks; Paul
Smith, Rushetts Road, RH2 7RQ; Trevor Stockwell, Stone Street, RG3 1HU-
Paul Taylor, Cherwell Grove, RM15 6AS, ft Whltton. Brook House, Brook Lane,
Whitby; AlexWing, Bonnetts Lane, PE14 8JE.

CONFUZION COMPETITION

Forty smashing Sweatshirts, supplied by Incentive Software are

already m the post to the following little block movers:

Ian Armstrong, Wolsingham Drive, TS5 8JU; K Bly, Alpine Rise, CV3 6NR; S
Brooks, University College, Cardiff; I Brown, Woodford Close, NG5 58W;
Anthony Chappie, Whitewel Is Road, BA1 6NZ; Jeremy Connor, Buxton Close,
Tyne & Wear, NE28; P Cooke, Bleak Hill Road, B23 7SN; Derek Cooper. Gran-
ville Road, LAI 2PA; Kenneth Dowson, Marjory Road. PA4 8BG; Mike Dunn
Poyner Road, SY8 TQT; Robert Graham. Rotherwick Road, NW11 7DG;
btephen Graham. Green Lane, CA2 70. Br David- Griffiths, Bolton Road, Nr
Wigan; K Grzesrk, Chesterfield Road, SI8 ORG; Paul Gyles. Holly Close, PE30
3JH. Wilson Hayhurst. Fell End Farm, LA7 7BW; Ian Hunt, Old Lodge Lane, CR2
4AN; N Johnson, Some/cotes, SS15 BUQ; fl Jones, Corbett Square, LL36 90F;
Ken Jones, Verity View, LS9 GEE; Oscar Levcovicb, Spaetteves Tilth,
Denmark; S Lowry, Eastern Way, Newcastle Upon Tyne; Keith Macaulay. Tha
Gables, AB5 OTT; Cormac McGuinness, Greggetes, Co Dublin; S Mitchell
Munnmgs Close, FG21 3EH; Chris Nash, Tyndele Gardens, B437NR- R Norfolk
Grays Close, ST7 3LU; fan Pullen, Lyncrofl Avenue, DE5 3BB; Robert Savaqe"
Crowland Road, CB9 9LF; Trevor Shelley, Tees Street. TS13 41W- Andrew
Sillars, Gorse Crescem. ME20 6ER; Alan Stevens. Badger Road, si 3 7TX; A
Haydn Avenue. CR2 4AJ; Trvomas Todd, Surrey Close, NE63 8PG;
Peter Tong, RueDesBellesFeuilles, Paris, France; Matthew Waddington, Black
Moor Road, BD2; Simon Wilkinson, Gringley Road, DN104AP.

MINI OFFICE COMP

The Mini Office competition, in which one hundred copies of
Database's super dooper office efficiency program was on offer
attracted a mega boxful of entries. Seems you don't want to end ud
like whot us I at at CRASH hav

Munawwar Ahmad, Taunton Ave, TW3 4AG; Robert Aitlcen, Erithway Road
CV3 6JU; Geoffrey Allard, The Kent, CV21 4NG; Nick Ayre, Ringwood Closft'
Leicester; K Balshaw, Abberley Close, WA10 2AZ; G Banyard, Gilbert Road
CB6 1JZ; Gordon Barham. Lvndhurst Parade, BT13 3PB; Robert Barnard,
Cavalry Crescent, BN20 BRN; Jann Bamett, Stoodley Close, 0L14 6h v
Benzie, Chalgrove Raid, SN5 8GA; Mark Bittorf, Highfield Road, Kent; David
Blair, inch-view Gardens, KV1 1 SSA; Steve Blanks, Elmside, Surrey; Mr R Booty,
Wembley Avenue, BN15 9J2; E J Bowen-Humphries, Radnor Road, CfS 1RB-
Chris Bowler, Beaumont Close, DE7 1HQ; Mark Burn, Thomas Si South, SR2
OP; Stephen Cheesman, Morven St; James Cfffford, Borthwick. St, G33 3UT
John Clifton, Kidbrooke Grove, SE30PG; A Coleman, Manilla Road, 829 7PZ
Jerome Collins* Orchard Caravan Park, Norfolk; D Corton, Reulo^e Road. 681
8DJ; Mike Oench, Longwood Road, Herts; J D Doggau, The Drive, EN6 2AP
Mark Dornan, St Marys Road, Dorset; Patrick Draper, Norvic Drive. NR47NN, D
Drummond, Hyacinth Close. C0 16 7DG; Laurence Dufty, Thatchers Green
WR9 9E8; Philip Dutton, Hazlewood Meadow, CT13 GAP; Metanre Easy'
Somerwell Road, HA2 8TZ; M Edwards, St Nicholas Drive, TW17 9LD 1 P A
Fairless. Wreay Walk, NE23 6LJ: Neil Gallighan, Crown Stores, Channel Isles;
Keith Giscombe, Shire Way, WR9 7RQ; Antony Greenwood, Richmond Road,
Sol 2JX; D Griffin, Fairfield Road, B61 9JW; Andrew Gnss, Larrercost Way, IPZ
9DP; Andrew Hague. Inglewood, Cheshire; Ian Hamley, Wimperls Way
Birmingham; Mrs Hanmore, Queens Road, P036 8DT; T S Hardfng, Winchester
Rd, BS4 3NF; Timy Hav, Girdwood Road, SW18 5QR; Barry Hunt, Hornedale
Avenue, LA 13 9AS; Alaid Hussain, Walpole Road, E17 6PS; S Jenkinson
Kingsley Park, RG28 7HA; Andrew Jolly, Sackvflle Street, PR6 OLP - K Jones'
Mew Road, BR8 7LS; S Jones, Adelaide Street, DH3 3HY ; S T Kelly, Stampar-
fand Ave. G768HA; Jason King, Brook House, EX22 7DH; Grahame Kirsopp.
Argyle Crescent, EH 15 2GE; Warwick Laung, Princes Square, Hove; Matthew
Lawless, Sprucedaie Gdns, SM6 9LB; Neil Layton, The Peacheries, P019 2NP;
B Lever, Lower fold, Cheshire; Ms Romayne Lynn,Dem esne Avenue, BT1 8 9L ;
Nicholas Marsat, Daven Road, CW12 3RB; Mr D Martin. Mun&ter Gardens, N13
5DT; A Matthews, Cspmartin Road, CV6 3FW; Alistsir May, Institution Road
IV30 1QT; Andrew McGilvray, Or ifiwood, RH5 5LF; Tony Meadwell, Offa Road!
MK42 9HZ; Stuart Millinship, Graveney Gdns, NG5 6GW; James Norwood
Gambiar Parry Gardens, GL2 9RD; Tony O'Keeffe, Somercotes, SS15 5UB; Ian
Oxberry, Canterbury Road, Tyne and Wear; Russel Pearson, North Drive, FYS
3RD; E D Pettit. Lichfield Road, DT4 OHE; J Pollard, Mincing Lake Roarf. Exeter ■
Mrs J Pntchard, Sylvana Close, UB10 OBH; Ms Sam Proctor. Meadow Cottage
Green Lane, B80 7EY, Andy Reason, Westfleld Grove, BA21 3DN; Ms T
Reynolds. Jannys Close, Norwich; P J Ryder, Ludlow Road, Wo res; A M
Savidis, Briarfield Close, BD10 8GP; M S Shepherd, Andersley Way, 0X14
5NW; Graham Smart, Sandham Close, P036 9DS; Colin Smith, Brandenburger
Weg 3, 8070, West Germany; Chris Sollit, Stsithe Road, PEt3 3TG; Andrew
Stardy, Barrett Road, DL3 $LA; Steven Tait, Prospecthilt Road, G42; Kevin
Ternent, Broom Hill, PL12 4DZ; Matthew Thomas, WhHlon Dene, TW7 7NJ'
Leon Thompson, Victoria Road, PQ30 2H8; J Thompson, Tor Croft, Sheffield'
Michael Trinder, South Bramble, Berks; William Van Rest, Hanbury Road. B93
BDN; Messers v*as» Eight Acre, Manchester; David Walker, Moredun Park
View,. Edinburgh; Andrew Wanless, Knowlands. SN6 7N8; Jon Ward, River
View, SS5 6LP; David Webb, Sunte Avenue, RH16 2AA; Jason Wesley,

CRASH August 1985 111

WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS

Causeway Street. South Wales; Philip Whiehello, Priests Lane, CM 15 8LE;
Robert Whitby, Tree Tops, 8R4 90S: S Wilks, Driveways, Gloues; Matthew
Wifliamson, Erpingham ftoad, SW15; Daniel Wilson, The New House,
Farnham; Michael Wrench, Worthing Street, CW9 7BS.

VULCAN JOYSTICK COMPETITION

The chaps and chapesses behind the VULCAN Custom Joystick
competition were so impressed by the standard of the entries we
received, that they decided to add to the prizes! As a result the ten
lucky winners will probably have already received their Gunshot 1
joystick together with a programmable interface.
Nice people en? And of course, the ten winners were:

Richard Wright, Hall Road, Burton on Trent DEI 3 9BX; Robert Norton, Paget
Road, WV6 ODX; R Hunter, High Street, NG32 UB; D Payne, Alma Road EN3
7RT; I F McAuliffe, West Common Grove, AL5 5LL; Matthew Williams, Trafford
Road, 0X3 BBD; G A Cross, Knowle Road, Bit 3AJ; Geraint Utherby, Glyn
Gwvn Street, CF45 3AF; ft F Bardie, Warncombe lane, EX16 4NZ; and Stephen
Graham, Green Lane, CA2 7QB

KOMPLEX COMPETITION

A good time was had by all, hunting round the pages of CRASH,
looking for the seven selected sentences — and an awful lot of you
must read the magazine very closely indeed, judging by the number

of correct entries we received. Anyway, on the with the real meaty bit
— Oo Won What:

James Kirkpatricfc, Roebuck Road, KT9 UY is the recipient of the first prize
age — an Interface One, Microdrive, Kornplex T Shirt and a copy of
Kornplex City (when it's ready),

Tom Holsiein. of Kennet Way, RG23 7AA; Robin taw of Queen Margaret's Rd,
CV4 8FW; John Slater of Goldsmith Avenue, CV346J6 and Richard Anderson,
Kincora Avenue, Belfast, BT4 3DW all win a copy of Kornplex City to go with the
KomptexT Shirts while the following people will soon able to stun their friends
by wearing their Kornplex T Shirts while at work and play

Michael Ashley. Chestnut Avenue, P09 3QR; Derek Buckle, Epsom Drive, 1P1
6SS; Christopher Chapman, Baidock Road, SG6 3JX; Chris Crane, Constance
Avenue. ST4 8TE; Melanie Easy, SomerweH Road, HA1 8TZ; A Ellis, Park
Avenue, Nottinghamshire; 8 S Frankel, Alexandra Road, E17; N Johnson,
Somercotes, SStS SUQ; Craig Lemon. Mountbatten Road, CM7 6TPr Simon

I - "

ADVENTURE CHART
COUPON

Name . . .

Address .

postcode

Send your coupon to: CRASH ADVENTURE TRAIL, PO BOX 10,
LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE SYS 1 DB

1 ,

Lowing ton, Woodbine Cottage, GL6 BEP; James Mc Mullen, Woodv'raw,
IRELAND; lain Mantle, Wye Close, CV32; Rupert Murdoch (shurely not THE
RM?}, Tracy Close, NG9 3HW; Bernard Oattes. Autumn Close, RG4 8UL; WJ
Plan, Rockfiefds, CF36 3NS; Trevor Shelley. Tees Street, TS13 4LW; Michael
Slater, Wood Top, BLO 9EN; Michael Smith, Prescott Walk. M34 1RH; Andrew
Thake, Boyd Close, CM23 5EG; Paul Wadsworth, Lewis Court, 0A1 1 7EA; G K
Woods. Scotforth Road. LA1 4ST.

WINNERS OF BUBBLE BUS TWO • WIZARD'S LAIR
HIGH SCORE CHALLENGE

Well well, my lovlies. Even though I told you that Steve Crow, the
man who actually programmed the game Wizard's Lair had written
us a score validator program to check your high-score entries, a
couple of you still tried to cheat. As far as we're concerned the people
whose high scores weren't accepted by Steve's program are dis-
qualified and were most probably trying it on, No prizes for you,
Messrs Winder, Keynes, Feven, Rackham and Ainge. So there.

Outright winner of the framed artwork used for the Wizards Lair
cassette inlay with a high score of 236,145 is ar> A F Slater of New-
borough, Cambridgeshire and this person also grabs a T Shirt and a
copy of Hustler. Runners up are as follows, . . .

Colin Mann. Quarryknovvle, Ba-nkhead; Bryan O'Rourlte Ladysmith Street,
Ullapool: J McCague Kenpas Highway, CV36PA; R McConnel Eyre Street, CF2
2JT; T M Baitey Aspen Lane, Middlesex; Martin Allen, Fernwood House,
Melton; Ian Hunt, Old Lodge Lane, CR2 4AN; Mrs H Cook, Cliffe Avenue, CT9
SOU; Paul Rosbotham, Elstead Grove, WN40RJ; D Craig, Fsmet Garden?, CR2
5AL; T M Bailey, Aspen Lane, Northolt; Simon Hawcroft, Wentworth St, S71
1JW; D Smart, Warners End, HP1 2QG; Neil McDowell. Ashfield House, SP2
TEG; Daniel Castles, Holland Close, RHl 1HT; Andrew Todd, Croft Close, Y04
3JU; Marc Chapman, Sylvan Close, Morpeth; Anon, Horseshoe Cottage,
Penzance, TR20; Lee Maynard, Sycamore Close, Crawley.

VOTING FOR
THE

ADVENTURE
CHART

Ttw CRASH AsVtnu» Ch*t
tea ptettBd up wq j» mM y
sine* we ftnfl jrtroduced V, »fln
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■tioii CRASH T-shW, wih lour
amn-up aarj> im I Im^ 9
T f^iin an* a nwMuHarlpeort
BlCHASH ha ItTOemantn.

Remember - points out of ten for as many titles as you wish ,

J

CRASH HOTLINE WRITE IN COUPON My top five favourite programs in descending order
Please use block capitals and write clearly! are:

Name TITLE

Address ]

2

Postcode « . . . 3

PRODUCER

Send your coupon to: CRASH HOTLINE, PO BOX 10, c
LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE SY8 1DB 5

12 CRASH August 1985

Minson, Minson on the wall, who's the fairest of them ail? Well before Robert Maxwell and Sir
Clive came to their arrangement we despatched the intrepid journalist and playwright John
Minson to MIRRORSOFVS headquarters in London to find out what was going on in Robert
Maxwell's Software publishing company. It's not all educational programming — DYNAMITE
DAN has just been awarded a CRASH SMASH. . . .

LOOKIPJG£>\l\Y*OQl
QW\HBaeEH/A/D

TOEBHT
ROflRUMVMIfffiOf?

Not every publisher of educational software
can boast as high a profile as Mirrorsoft, but
then again few software houses belong to
organisations as large as Mirror Group
Newspapers. Jim Maekonoehie, their
development manager, is the man respons-
ible for bringing the Mr Men and others to
the micro, and when I met him recently my
first question was how he had brought a
newspaper publisher into the software
market. He explained that it was a logical
progression:

'In June 1983 it became apparent to me
that the way technology was moving was
tha i by the 1990s most homes would ha ve a
terminal, based on a home computer. We're
basically a communication company, and it
was essentia! for our long term objectives,
moving to the turn of the century, that the
Mirror Group Newspapers had an associa-
tion with the home computer software
market — not necessarily for what it was in
J983 or even 1984 but for what it's going to
develop into by 1990, '

However there was a vast gap between
the new technology of Fleet Street's elec-
tronic information gathering and the
humble Spectrum, so why go for an in initial
position primarily in educational and ser-
ious material? The option in mid- r 83 was
between going into games and having a
major buying-up spree, or again looking to
the future.

'Games will always be important in the
market but it's going to start shifting in the
next five years and education will become
more important. When more powerful
computers are in the home, serious applic-
ations will start coming to the fore, so a cold
decision was taken — "Let's build up our
strength in the early /earning section of the
market to begin with. " '

From the start Mirrorsoft were able to
draw on the resources of the parent group.
Roger Hargreaves' Mr Men, who appear in a-
daily strip cartoon in the Mirror, are un-
questionably popular with the junior school
age group- 'Characterisation can go in fads
but the Mr Men are proven over a number of
generations of youngsters. If the Mr Men
characters can be used in the software
effectively it makes sense to use them. The
trap we assiduously try to avoid is saying,
"we have the Mr Men characters; how can
we create a program to use them?" We

J jm Maekonoehie, Mirrorsoft s

main man poses for Ace

Lensperson, John Minson

7 enjoy

playing games.

I enjoy using

computers. It's

more than a job

- it's a little bit

of a crusade

element '

prefer to have a sound programming con-
cept and if we can use the Mr Men on that
storyboard f we'll do it '

when a decision was made to provide an
introduction to directions, the result was
Here and There with the Mr Men, replacing
the Logo turtle with the cartoon characters.
The Logo similarity hasn't been pushed in
public, but schools in which the program
was tested recognised it immediately and
commented favourably. As yet there are no
plans for the Mirror's other cartoon char-
acters, such as The Penshers or The
Fosdyke Saga, to make their micro-chip
debut though.

Mirrorsoft have tried to cover a broad
range of topics, with adult education,
games and creative computing for a range
of machines. While Jim Maekonoehie

admits that their current strength is in early
learning, this year should see reinforce-
ment in other areas. Recently two new
games have appeared, aimed at the under-
tens market who can't yet cope with the
complexity of Knight Lore'. Phineas Frog
and Ancient Quests are both arcade advent
ures, but with learning undertones. First
impressions of the latter indicate that it
should keep the intended age range enter-
tained, Jim firmly believes "that adventure
sim u lation is the best way to bri ng creativity
into this market.

Ideas come to Mirrorsoft in a variety of
ways, from basic concepts to a finished pro-
gram in the case of Caesar the Cat. There
are also in-house creative meetings which
can result in communications from devel-
opment teams. One long standing collabor-

CRASH August 1985 113

A WHISTLE-STOP TOUR OF

in course of which Mr Minson's Spectrum
attempts to educate him,
and susses out his depravity

But of course Mr Mackon-
ochie's crusade isn't worth any-
thing if the product is of poor
Duality, so J left Mirrorsoft's
olborn Circus HQ with a selec-
tion of their programs, aimed at
both young and old, put my rev-
iewer's hat on {vital piece of
equipment in the Minson ward-
robe — Ed.) and scrutinised the
Mirrorsoftware,

Look Sharp consists of two
tests of visual skills for the 4-7
and upwards age group. Graph-
ics are pleasing and 'SORT is
particularly fun, being the
'Spare Observer Recruitment
Test'. The player has to spot the
differences and remember just
what they have seen before they
qualify for the mission.

More down to earth problems
with Word Games With the Mr
Men, which tackles early read-

ing. Once again Widgit Soft-
ware have provided an amusing
and well implemented program,
the success of which lies in the
amusing on-screen reactions
that result from typing in a word.
In the second game of the two
Mr Bounce lives up to his name,
and positively bounds all over
the screen.

Caesar's Travels is a convers-
ion from the Commodore 64 and
revives the feline protagonist of
one of Mirrorsoft's earliest
game successes. It's an interest-
ing adventure variation, with
Caesar searching for a new
home. The child makes a decis-
ion at crucial points, such as
whether Caesar should 'Run' or
'Hide', and as these are almost
all single key inputs many child-
ren could play alone. The end
result is like en interactive bed-

time story with accompanying
animation.

One of the things that marks
out the Early Learning series is
how well error trapped and

I

o
o

-4

ation has been with Ivan Berg Software who
have been responsible for most of the
Home Discovery titles. These include Know
Your Own Personality and the Joffe Plan
diet program, aimed at the broad (no pun
intended) adult market. Jim agrees that
they reflect the mass-market popular
approach of the group's papers.

'All the market surveys showed that the
main users of home computers were in the
12 - 17 year old age group, who primarily
used them for games. We thought , there are
alt these Spectrum computers in homes
let's see if we can produce a range of soft-
ware which may not necessarily have mass
market appeal. There will be parents who'll
be interested in looking at a diet program, or
software such as Starseeker which rs partic-
ulariy relevant this year with Ha I ley's Comet
coming through.

'It was a calculated decision to build up a
reputation for producing entertaining soft-
ware for adults. But it's an error to have too
high expectations of this market. If you're
looking for the long term you have to recog-
nise it's a very young industry and the non-
games market is a minority area. Onehasto
build up a reputation and not go mad over-
playing it. It's a long-term market with a
long shelf-life. If you promote over a long
time you generate sales.'

In the case of Know Your Own Psi-Q and
Personality the basic idea comes from the
successful books by Hans Eysenck with Carl
Sargent for the former, Glenn Wilson for the
latter. The computer versions avoid the
tedium of scoring, and more importantly
remove the temptation to cheat — some
questions are repeated to test consistency!
In all of these programs, the authors have
not just lent their names to the product, but
have been closely involved with the devel-
opment of the software.

Mirrorsoft have also used the group's
resources to ensure high standards of pres-
entation, conscious of the fact that their
image reflects back on the image of the
newspapers in the group. They've drawn on
the journalistic, talents contained within the
organisation to produce property edited
documentation, 'Voluminous manuals that

are badly written just turn e very body off the
product, ' is thei r maxim .

As the group was created with the future
in mind I wondered what lies ahead. Of
course the Mr Men will be back later this
year with more animation and arcade adv-
enture elements, and there are also plans
for in-house programmers as part of gen-
eral expansion, but the real excitement lies
in the coming generation of computers. Jim
looks forward to an increased use of disks,
though he admits that there could be prob-
lems of response time when interacting
with microdrives.

It's when Mirrorsoft is seen as part of the
mighty Pergamon/BPCC/MGN Corporation
that things really happen. Robert Maxwell,
chief executive of the empire, takes a great
interest in the technological revolution and
the family of companies of which Mirrorsoft
is a part includes information services with
massive databases and the Rediffusion
cable network. As Jim Mackonoehie says,
'The implications for the next decade ere
very interesting. There's some very inter-
esting potential' .

It's quite a relief to come down to the
individual level again and find that Jim him-
self began computing with a ZXB1 and now
has a Spectrum, QL and BBC at home. His
knowledge and enjoyment of games goes
beyond mere business awareness. 7 enjoy
playing games, I enjoy using computers. Its
more than a job - it's a little bit of a crusade
element. '

Shortly after this interview was conduc-
ted, Robert Maxwell's involvement in
Sinclair Research was announced. No
doubt there will be a number of ramific-
ations for Mirrorsoft as a result — will they
become another Psion? Are they going to
preserve their independence fiercely?

Answers to these and cither questions
had not been obtained as these pages were
\ prepared for the printers, not least because
Mirrosoft were in the middle of moving
premises. Cast an eye over the NEWS
INPUT pages for an update on the position.

The title screen fmm the Home
Discovery series, a dinky little
bouse displayed on the screen —
what wilt you Unit inside yourPs
Q?

child-proofed they a re. Sadly the
same cannot be said about the
earlier Home Discovery offer-
ings. The first three have several
ragged edges, such as 'Stop J
messages and unprotected
Basic.

The Mr Men pley word
association football. Fun for the
five to eight year olds.

'Know Yourself is a good rule
and Know Your Own Person-
ality aims to help you do just
that. Its three questionnaires are
specially designed to evaluate
key areas of character. (After my
Spectrum had analysed my
inputs it refused to speak to me
for a week!) The companion
program for the more mystically
minded is Know Your Own Psi-
Q, which contains a similar
questionnaire on one side, while
its main part consists of a series
of precognition and clairvoy-
ance tests, with facilities to chart
your progress over a length of
time. There's even a routine to
aid relaxation and hence
susceptibility to ESP.

While these two are usable
despite their messy edges, BBC

114 CRASH August 1985

Caesar

the

cat

goes

walkabout.

looking
tryLudi

for «
ow!

new

t horns

i. He should

Mastermind is sadly fatally
flawed. Based closely on the
television quiz, and recreating
its inquisitorial atmosphere so
well that vou can almost hear
Magnus rvtagnusson reading
out your passes, it fails because
the auto-repeat of the keys has
not been disabled, resulting in
too much of your two minutes
being wasted in erasing duplic-
ated letters. There's also a
friendly and easy to use BBC
Mastermind Quizmaster to gen-
erate your own databases, but
the whole package cannot be
recommended.

- ■",■;.

•

'

:- 94 ' 5 •

• : I . . .

Constellations a-go-go, with 65
stars showing on the plot. On o
cloudy night you can 't see any at
tfwm

wnr>!W7'!wwwi

wrong programme, 'I've started
this caption so i*U finish .. .'
Mirrorsoft' s implementation of
Mastermind

Happily the most recent addit-
ion to the series, Star Seeker, is
much slicker; in fact it f s just
about the best astronomy pro-
gram I've ever seen, but so It
should be as it was written with
the co-operation of the London
Planetarium. One side of the
tape deals with the stars; the
other with our Solar System and
Halley's Comet, It's simplicity
itself to use and should be of
interest to all amateur
stargazers.

On the whole then, Mirrorsoft
maintains high quality in an area
where bad programming too
often rules, with the proviso that
some of the Ivan Berg programs
lack polish there's a pleasing
professionalism about the
company. Recently Mirrorsoft

A Day in the Life of The Moon.
15th January 1985, when rf was

weren 't star gazing that nigh t,
this is what it looked like!

have revealed growing interest
in the games scene with Dyna-
mite Dan, a platform game
which was reviewed last issue
and achieved CRASH SMASH
status. They may also be taking
over promotion of Games
Workshop's Runestone, another
CRASH SMASH, now that its
originators have decided to cut
back on computer involvement.
All of which could result in
Hoi born Circus being just as
famous for software as ft now is
for newspapers!

Simple and fast
programming? Plug the six
function connectors into the
required Spectrum key
positions- Ready?

Supports joysticks with two
independent fire actions:
Photon Blasters and Neutron
Bombs at the touch of your
fingertips

Extension port for combined
use of peripheral*.

£19.95

<f*H. VATmkj *4P

Interface operates joystick
parallel to Keyboard, Joystick
action compatible with any
add-ons including
microdrrves.

Select key functions anytime -
even when the game is
already loaded.

t*£^ COMCON TWIN

JOYSTICK INTERFACE

£22.95

incl.VATandP&P

Two port version allows connection of two joysticks for
sequential two playergarnes using same key positions
{nan- independents

QUICKSHOT2+2

JOYSTICK

modified to incorporate
2 independent fire actions
and no rapid (ire option

£13.95

incWATandP&P

FLK5HTUNK HOTSHOT
JOYSTICK

with two independent fire actions

£10.50

inctVATandP&P

Dealer Enquiries

Welcome! Phone CURRAH USPEECH UNIT £21,95

Ludlow (0684) 4894 tits into COMCON extension slot incL VAT and P&P

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM SELECTED RETAIL OUTLETS

Send to:

I FRFL I Til - h

Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1PD I

Mr./MrsVMiss:

Address

Postcode:

Ctty

Codt.

01

02

03

~5T

05

06

07

Item

hem Price

Comcon interface

£19.95

£22,95

Comcon Twin Interface _
Quick ahot 2 I 2 Jo ystick £ 1 395"

~^r- i~7T. m — ; — > — - ' i .1 i

Hlg.htlink H otshot Joy stick
Currah uSpeech Unit

£1050

£2195

Comcon with Quktahot 2-2 £31,90

Comcon with Hotshot

£2845

I enclose a cheque/postal order made payable to Frel Ltd. (or

Total £

CRASH August 1985 1t5

vnur chance
l° R ASHSmas^d

strata

the rrs\
from Ck^Q

AS THE RYALL has gone into

annual summer hibernation for
this issue, we are able to bring
you a competition which wifl
allow fifty CRASH readers to
sample 'the best World War II
game this year' for themselves,
in the comfort of their own
homes.

No more tedious digging
trenches in the back garden next
time you fancy re-enacting a
famous battle; no more tank
tracks through the hydrangeas,
it can all take place on the screen .„
of your Spectrum, courtesy of &*
CCS's Wargame Arnhem which
normally sells for £8.95

Reach for your history books,
nobble the history master or
mistress at school or chat up
grandad and ask him what he
did in the war to find the ans-
wers to the following fiendishly
difficult questions (a quick look
at Angus' review in the June
CRASH might help you on your
quest). Pop your answers in an
envelope or on the back of a
postcard and fire them off to
ARNHEM COMPETITION, PO
BOX 10, LUDLOW,

SHROPSHIRE, SY8 1DB to arrive
by 29th August. First fifty _
winners out of the hat that day jjj&
wif) receive a copy of CCS $
game.

116 CRASH August 1985

1) The Battle of Arnhem was
fought in a) Holland,
Germany, c) Belgium, d) Luxem-
bourg.

2) Who masterminded Oper-
ation Market Garden? a) Eisen-
hower, b} Montgomery, c)
Dempsey, d) Bradley.

3) Which bridges were captured
by the Allies without being
brown up? a) Arnhem, b)
Nijmegen, c) Grave, d) Veghel,
e)2on.

4} Approximately how many
troops were landed by the Brit-
ish near Arnhem? a) 5,000, b)

1 0,000, c) 15,000, d} 18,000

5} In September 1344 the Allies
captured the bridge at
Nijmegen On which date? a)
18th September, b) 19th Sept-
ember, c! 20th September.

6) Who wrote the Wargame
ARNHEM for CCS?

CRL have produced what just
has to be the world's first truck
driving simulation. The aim of
the game is to make a profit at
the end of the working day.
Money is earned by collecting a
variety of goods and delivering
them to the depot from where
you start.

The lorry, as well as the game,
is partly icon -driven. To start,
five icons access the options
Start game. Select lorry size.
Practice, Highscore and Key-
define. Clearly it is easier to
drive a short lorry but the dis-
advantage is that delivering the
allocated tonnage will take
longer. Selecting the appropr-
iate icon offers a selection of 4
different vehicle sizes. Practice
lets the player get the 'feel' of
the truck on the open road, at
crossroads, roundabouts and in
simple parking.

Selecting Drive starts the
game for real. The first screen
shows a map of a town — the
computer can choose from a
variety, Apart from the street
ay out, the map only shows the
depot's position. Alongside the
map you are given a list of goods
that must be collected. Each
type will vary in total ton nape
and, more often than not, in-
volve several trips to different
suppliers.

he next screen offers six more
icons. Start, Phone, Load/fuel,
Unload, Pause and Resign. At
the beginning of the game the
only icon you can use is Start.

The main display is a bird's
eye view of a section of road
with your truck on it. The upper
third of the screen contains a list
of freight to be collected along-
side a list of the amount deliv-
ered. The rest of this area is
taken up by the instruments, bar
graphs for damage (registers
the amount of damage due to
poor driving), fuel indicator and
a speedometer. Alongside the
bar graphs a large circle with a
line across it is the steering
wheel. A gearstick offers three
gears, reverse, first and second.
When the truck is stationary
fire' will toggle between rev-
erse and first, on the move,
between first and second. At the
very top of the screen a clock lets
you know how much of the day
has gone.

After moving away from the
depot your first task is to plan
your trip so find a phone box,
park and call up the working
Icons. A phone call allows you to
ask different suppliers where
they are, and the different
goods, including Oerv, are given
in icon form. If you selectthefuel

118 CRASH August 1985

Could this he me ftrst WG V simulation ? Park that attic and
pick up the goods.

icon a little cursor will scan over
the street map on the left and
mark the position of any gar-
ages. Once you have located
your stops it's all up to you.

Apart from the danger of
destroying your truck by going
off the road too often, you can be
fined for speeding. Any damage
inflicted on your truck can be put
right at a garage but for a price.
When the day is over you are
scored according to how much
money you have made, Your
pay includes a bonus for com-
pleting the job multiplied by the
number of minutes left in the
day and a bonus for the tons del-
ivered. The cab and trailer repair
costs are added to any speeding
fines and that total deducted
from your gross earnings, leav-
ing a final score. Sounds compl-
icated? Try driving the truck.

CRITICISM

• 'This is certainly a very novel
game and one which I enjoyed
playing. The graphics are very
neat if a little over simple, but
when you are trying to drive that
lorry the fewer distractions the
better. Games which call on you
to dash hither and thither along
complicated streets, have a cert-
ain appeal and Juggernaut is no

exception. I can't really claim
that it's action-packed but the

task is certainly very challenging
and should keep you at it for
some time, I would have prefer-
red it if the screen could have
scrolled smoothly rather than in
blocks but I suppose that would
have made it even harder to
steer the truck. An addictive and
novel game.'

• 'Juggernaut is a Sorry driving
simulation, big deal? Believe me
if driving the real thing is any-
thing /ike driving this thing HI
leave it to the experts. The game
is fairly enjoyable but very diffi-
cult to complete. The forty is
simply but effectively drawn, as
are the background graphics.
The game is clever and well
done but I don't think it has
enough going on to maintain it's
initial appeal,'

• 'The idea behind this game is
really rather neat — making
phone calls to find the pick up
points, getting there, and worst
of all, reversing into the loading
bay. Getting the hang of the
lorry takes some time. I have to
assume, from the way it saunt-
ers down the middle of the road,
that it reacts something like a
real artic. Keeping the truck on
the road is quite absorbing but I

can't help feeling there should
be rather more to it. A lot of con-
centration is required to keep it
straight and the work involved in
getting the loads is all against
the clock. It's a bit too much like
hard work formeC

COMMENTS

Control keys: definable, except
S for working Icons
Joystick: Cursor type and prog-
rammable

Keyboard piay: good
Use of colour: not much used
Graphics: neat but a bit basic in
design

Sound; not a lot
Skill levels: 4
Lives: 1
Screens: lots

General rating: different but not
exceptional

Use of computer 70%

Graphics 74%

Payability 78%

Getting started 80%

Addictive qualities 68%

Vatue for money 67%

Overall 73%

SPECTRUM 48K

The Edge, 31 Muidmi Lane, Cuvent Garden, London WC2. TrI: 01-240 1422/7877 Telex: 892379

MONOPOLY

Producer: Leisure Genius

Memory required ; 48K
Retail price: £9,95
Language: machine code
Autnor: various

At last it's arrived — fifty years
after Monopoly was first prod-
uced as a board game — the
Spectrum's very own, and offic-
ial, version of Monopoly. An
appropriate way to celebrate a
fiftieth birthday!

The game is played according
to the rules laid down for the
Official version of the game and
that's going to lead to more than
a few surprises — but it should
stop the arguments, The game
allows for between two and six
players, any number of whom
can be played by the computer,
You could set up a game with
you playing five opponents, all
run by the computer which has
six inbuilt personalities avail-
able fo r random allocat ion to the
tokens it plays.

The playing characteristics
are meant to simulate different
playing styles: Mean, Reckless,
Greedy, Steady, Cautious and
Entrepreneurial. Each computer
-played token will act according
to one of these personalities,
The role of the bank is always
taken by the computer — which
plays impeccably fairly ! ,

Before the game begins you
will be asked to enter the names
of the players and which ones
are to be played by the comp-
uter. Players are allowed to sel-
ect the token they prefer. Next
the program asks if you want to
play a short game, which is
played until the time limit (also
prompted for by the computer)
is reached. The player having
the greatest worth at 'time up'
will be the winner. The 'who
starts first' question is resolved
by the computer rolling some
dice on screen. The player with
the highest number starts.

The game display spirts the
screen into two parts. The upper
two thirds show a three-dimen-
sional view of the board with the
individual properties clearly
marked according to colour
groups. While a token is being
moved, the lower third of the
screen gives a bird's eye view of
the property that the token is on
and the two preceding proper-
ties- In this view the properties
appear exactly as they do on the
real board.

When a token settles on a
property the square changes to
show the information normally
he Id o n t he back of th e real prop-
erty cards. A prompt will appear
asking if you want to buy the
property or not. If you answer
yes' the cost is deducted from
your account. Answer 'no' and,
according to the rules, the bank
auctions the property. The bank
handles all money transactions
including thecollection of rent. If

120 CRASH August 1985

an opponent lands on your
property you must claim rent by
pressing R', after that the bank
takes over. Should the tenant
not have enough cash the bank
will automatically start selling or
mortgaging the impoverished
tenant's property to settle the
debt. If a token lands on a
Chance or Community Chest
square the computer selects a
card and displays that in the
board square — that's the end of
taking the nasty ones out {Bunch
of cheats round their Monopoly
board, the Spencer family it
seems. f — Ed.).

All of the other transactions
that the game allows, buying
and selling houses and trading
properties, can be initialised by
keying in the appropriate com-
mand letter when the computer
will prompt for details of the
transaction. All prompts and
general information appear on
the lower part of the screen. At
almost any point a player can
request a list of the properties
and who, if anyone, owns them.
When the list is presented indiv-
idual players can then ask for a
portfolio and examine each
property in detail. Key 'M' and
the bank will set up mortgages, a
player indicates the property by
positioning the cursor over it.
The bank deducts a ten percent
fee for all mortgages. If a player
becomes bankrupt, the bank will
sort out his affairs and then
retire his token. A 'long game'
continues until all but one of the
players have been retired or

until someone terminates the
game with CAPS /SHIFT SPACE
whereupon the assets of each
player will be displayed.

CRITICISM

• 'I am very impressed by this
program. All of the features of
the real game have been inbuilt
very well. The bank acts with
startling efficiency, all trans-
actions are conducted quickly
and neatly. The idea of having 6
different personalities is great
and seems to work well: it
appeals to me because now I can
play Monopoly on my own. The
thought of converting Mono-
poly to run on a computer fills
me with horror, there are so
many complexities even putting
aside the complexity of the
board. Monopoly handles them
all so well and with ease. It can
be great fun getting the com-
puter to play all six players and
then just sitting back and watch-
ing, A truly great version of a
very good game.'

• 'Being a true Monopoly fan f
found the computer version
very exciting, ft is exactly the
same as the original. Of course
this game is onty going to
appeal to those of you who
enjoy playing Monopoly in the
first place, but that must be quite
a few. I think the dice are fantas-
tic, they ffy in from the left hand
corner and settle near the mid-
dle, they look pretty realistic. I
highly recommend this game if
it appeals.'

• This is an amazingly faithful

transfer of the well known board
game. The only problem that 1
found was, apart from being
unable to cheat, that I had to play
according to the real rules. That
can often take a bit of fun out of
the game. I also miss not being
able to leaf through the piles of
money and property cards. The
view of the board is much better
than I expected possible; the
idea of giving a detailed close up
on the Tower part of the screen
as you move along is very neat.
When playing against the com-
puter you will have to pay very
close attention, its very easy to
miss a rent. A great game. A
must for fans of the board
game.'

COMMENTS

Control keys: as required by
prompts
Joystick: N/A
Keyboard play; very good
Use of colour: very effective
Graphics: make for a good, easy
to follow board layout
Sound: a few warning beeps
Skill levels: can be played
against 6 different personalities
Lives: 'till your money runs out
Screens: one, split into two
General rating: an excellent
transfer. Pass Go and get it

Use of computer
Graphics
Payability
Getting started
Addictive qualities
Value for money
Overall

75%
80%
85%
82%
87%
75%

MQNQPGL V. AH the fun of the board gam*, without the
argument. And you can't hide a five hundred pound note
under the carpet for emergencies, either.

Trouble In Store for Herbert

Spectrum 48K £9.95
Commodore 64 £9.95
Amstrad CPC 464 £9.95

44 The Broadway, Bracknell. Berks. 0344 427317

T-shirts &
Binders Offer

Great T-shirts in high-quality
1 00% cotton with double stitching
on nock and shoulder seams for
lasting wear Three sizes, in black
with a brill CRASH design in three
colours.

£4.50 incl p&p

Fab Sweatshirts*
long-sleeved, heav]

fleecy lined wilh <
on neck and sfi

washable navy blu*3
design in thr-
sizes.

£8.95

-y_ \a

Tt

(Medium, 38m

iL^rgo, 40m

Build yourself the most comprehensive manual on Spectrum

software ever seen! Save your issues of CRASH month by month.

and turn them into the hard cover with the fattening soft centre!

Our tat binder doesnt just look
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(overseas orders please add 40p). MwweiHowactariritorcMlwfv

CRASH MICRO, Freepost, Ludlow, Shropshire SYS 1 BR

BRITAIN'S BEST SELLING SILLY MAGAZINE

EXCLUSIVE
REVIEWS

CLUSIVE
DVERTS

EXCLUSIVE
EXCLUSIVES

\ m

tvTk fe

gfcWf

<3i

MINDLESS

LITTLE EARNER

= Litter Bin

Web-toed whinger [EXCLUSIVE]

LAST WEEK I spent five
minutes addicted to Frog-
spawn. I bought Unclear
User this morning — great,
Frogspawn reviewed!

Where's the Wassock sign?
One Moon?

Come off it, this g;
was nearly an exclusive and
it's really good fun to play . .
A Sinclair User Reader
Pnndside
Watery Edge
Huh! A Sinclair User reader
— we might have guessed.
What do you expect us to do,
play the games as well as re-
view them? Fred

Yet more books found
in free buglet

I SPENT hours tipping in
yore listing in the lurst issue
and wuz rooty deasepimed
whine the purgrom doodn't
wurk Cud You fix lions

400, 4400 and 400 fure me. I
looped iin REMINDER
Pke dure $ 37,815 for lean
400 and PIKE 3,5,0(MUK)O
for lune 4400.
Sidely Snurg
The Hankies
Snotterton

We apiliogise four the curk
oops in the liesings. Tip 96
should have reead39. If you
Stile expreiance purblems,
httiv a Commidire 73.

ok?

You should, however,
have realised that we only
prim I is lings, 'cos we find
them a dead easy and cheap
way to fill the space between
the advertisements and don't
really care whether the prog-
rams even load, let alone
run. So stop pestering us
with vour idiotic gripes.
OK? OK. Fred.

Is someone missing the
point?

Dear Sir

I would like to know if I'm

the first person to complete

my breakfast?

Bert Bagel

A Caff Near the A5

PS I found a cheat mode,
which involved pokeing the
Shredded Wheat sixteen
times with the spoon
BEFORE adding the milk,
This makes them go ail
soggy, and you can pour the
whole bowlful down your
throat in one go.

If I win a prize, could 1
have my dinner?

No you're not. We all com-
pleted our brekkies before
we came into the office this
morning Fm afraid. Unless,
of course, you are referring

to Breakfast in Babylon the
adventure game by Borissoft
in which case you could be
the first to complete it. If you
are, we couldn t care less.

Caught out! (again)

I BOUGHT a game which 1
completed in fifteen min-
utes. Yet your Exclusive re-
view last month said it was
hard! What's the crack lads?
Disgruntled
Mossy Bank, Treeville
It's a little line which goes all
the way up the wall, across
the ceiling and half way
down the other wall behind
the Ed's desk. Apart from
that, it's very difficult to play
a game you've only seen
through an office window
from the top of a bus. It
certainly looked hard though

UNCLEAR USER

Spectrum Software Seen

Guide to ratings

UNCLEAR USER Wassocks are
programs which, in terms of the opin-
ions we are able to form, set new
standards in software reviewing. They
are the reviews by which none of the
others are measurable. If you buy
software, buy these and play them.
We generally haven't. No self-respec-
ting reviewer should actually have to
play the games he or she exclusive*.

Software reviews carry a moon rating,
the basis of which will be varied accor-
ding to how exclusive the program
review is, how much money ihe so ft
ware publisher spends on advertising
and how much of that money lines the
coffers of UNCLEAR USER, as well
tost of other intangible variables.

>>>>>

Buy it. They spend all their massive
advertising budget with us EXCLUS-
IVELY, and we get to review the
game before it even leaves the story-
board.

>*>>

Not short of a bob or two. the fellows
who place advertising for ihis. i fi

ware house, and they've chucked
quite a few pages our way for this
game. They buy space in our mag-
azine, we write nice reviews, you buy
the game. OK?

mum

Shep

The graphics for the field are great

] This is where the sheep pen is

Road for truck

WE ARE proud to be the very first
mag to get an exclusive look at this
new game. Two weeks ago we dashed
up to the front door of Wool i— vision
and managed to talk to Avec Parsley
about the new hit he had almost fin-
ished. As you will see from the picture
the game is about sheep fanning, in
fact it's a simulation of shepherding.
We are truly proud to get this exclus-
ive review of what is certainly the start
of a trend.

It seems that you will have two
sheep dogs to control (you may ri^sd a
joystick for each). The idea is that you

One of the dogs
Guide the sheep into here
Feed bowl over here

>>>

Lots of carrots. Buy it.

>>

Nearly finished when we saw it — and
they do buy our ad manager lunch
regularly.

They feel we ought to wait until the
game's finished, then insist we play it
before we write anything, and by the
time we have, everyone else has
reviewed it months ago. What a bore!
Why should you buy their game if
they won't buy us lunch, or spend
money on pages in our magazine, eh?

manoeuvre the dogs around the field,
so forcing the sheep into the pen
which has a gate that opens and
closes. Close the gate when they are
all in and then probably drive a truck
upto the pen and let them all in. The
next task is to take them to market
and slaughter tham all.

The graphics arc very promising
and fast. At the end of the game you
will know how well you have done by
cheeking to see how mueh the farmer
has earned. The game is really clever
because the more the dogs have to run
about the more energy they use, you
can always guide them to a feed bowl
to re — charge, but then sheep may
esacape,

Cur.s Brain

*>

Publisher Wooli-vision Price
£7.79 Joystick Yes, two(ish}

invasion

LAST YEAR we rushed up to Skeg-
ness to get an exclusive peck at the
latest blockbuster from Oceagine. As
the Spectrum version is hardly started
we had a glimpse at the almost finish-
ed unexpanded Vic 20 version. The
idea behind the game is quite com-
plex; you must move your gun left and
right while trying to avoid the bullets
that hail down from the spaceships
above and trying to shoot them. The
enemies also move left and right and
gradually decend to try and over run
the planet below. The graphics are

maim

really good and the side ways scrolling
is excellent with the spaceships mov-
ing drunkenly across the screen. The
nearest game to this is probably the
well known version of Pole Invaders

Part 2 otherwise it is a totally original
concept. Definitely a hit which should
reach the shops in about another
year's time.

Dreo Pud

>>>>

■v

o

£KH09MF

The Swizz

THIS IS a really cool game published
by Satyr Games, and is being written
by a real life mugazine editor (Who
me? Ed. ) (Yes, you, the one and only
Bile Scalding — JG) all about the
journalism business. Although the
game is written in. and is pretty
BASIC the potential is there for hours
of fun as you charge around the soft-
ware industry in search of the elusive
exclusive.

Setting out from a damp and dingy
office in London, you improve your
ego rating by attempting to get exlus-
ives, or if all else fails, pretending to
your readers that you have got exclus-
ives.

Half of the fun lies in writing the
game, which has been duplicated and
will be sold in an unfinished form —
so you start of with an exclusive look
at THE SWIZZ itself.

The rest is purely up to the guilibilty
of your readers, as you try to collect
the hidden letters that form the word
'Exclusive 1 so you can plaster it all
over your magazine.

Scoring depends on the number of
exclusives you can get away with, and

M

.f^fCi a Si *■

in

N

IF u

Iws o

wrnmrn

R

m

N r f n s l

the volume of advertising you can get
in each issue of your magazine — this
affects circulation. You have a variety
of dirty tricks available to you, includ-
ing fibs, threats to give games bad
reviews or no reviews at all if the soft-
ware company concerned places
advertisements in your competitors'
magazi nes etc , e tc . ftm Gibte

>>>>

Publisher Satyr Games
Price £9.90

Bunty on the Bun

NO PRIZES for guessing that this is
the long-awaited follow up of
Wanted: Bunty Bear by Greebly
Graphics. The action takes place
while Bunty is asleep, dreaming. In
his nightmare he finds himself on a
giant bun. The task is to collect all the
currants. No prizes, either, for guess
ing that this is an absolute Wassock.

Of the 3,324 screens author Peter
Carrot has written, 1 have only seen a
screen dump of one, but from this 1
can expertly tell that the gameplay is
impressive indeed.

if you're into bakery on a grand
scale then sit back, turn your brain to
neutral and get kneading.

>}}}}

Publisher Greebly
Graphics Price £15.37
Memory 143K Joystick Almost certainly

Adventure Helpline

At the sign of the Prancing Prat

W

STUMBLE off.

en with peroxide
for the fading
blondes of Dow

Cit\\ on the final
stay' quest for

\q$ boredom and impenetrah
Once again I put scratchy quill to age-
■irchment in the hack of a dingy
<m and manage to answer three
mundane questions posed to me by a
drunken tramp whom I encoun
arid st , the roadside.

Sigmund the Freud Patater, of
Scrungethorpe mutters about his
els with The Habit in Muddle Earth,

and suggests that Gillian may be
avoided by running away. Eel km
ellers on the path to adventureing may
wish to ignore that one.

Gordon Gutbucket
sleeps off a hangover, bek
resoundingly and witters on
about something or other
minimal relevance to
enture players).

Many of the assembled company
who join me on ti USt strewn

floor of the hostelry as the evening
progresses exj deal-

■1th the evil Trill Scalding, oft en-
countered by unwary
through the dingy passage know as
Erindon Line in deepest Lomi
hail s'

dying gratitude as well as many pitch-
ers of ale for informing them that this

w hinge ing beast may he easily pacified

software wizard who has the

cast a spell ofExclush

Should an unfortunate irovt
hark upon the Scalding and not have
art f so hand t fear not, / re-

assure my audience. Merely tell him
nave one to give anyway, else he
reate one! Cast the
word in front of his path, and /?.■
fall at your feet snivelling his apprec-
iation, before rum \

to his chest — and you may then easily
pass him by and achieve greater ih ings.

Indeed my companions at the Pussy-
cat and Noose offered me such a vol-
ume of mead as reward for telling them
of the means by which the Scalding trill
may be avoided, that I passed out ere
much more of the evening elapsed,

Gordon Gutbuckel. Landlord

3D action as you ta ke,
on the challenge of a
lifetime against
CIMBEL4JN,
TEDMATARE,
JANSENSINOan
FIGHTER BULL.
Emerge victorious
from all 4 rounds and

I more than have earned the
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CROWN,

Gremlin Graphics, Alpha House, 10 Carver Street, Sheffield SI 4FS. Teh (0742) 793423

One day, some years ago. Rich Shenfield was
browsing through the wares on offer in a South-
ampton Army Surplus store, looking for a greatcoat.
He bumped into a friend, who had just started a J
software house. The friend was Mark Eyles, the
software house was Quicksilva, and Mr Shen
field was hired to provide artwork for their
cassette inlays and advertising material. Thus
began Rich Shenfi eld's association with the
software industry. . .

Richard Shenfield Is 3 man of
many talents. He left school with
A levels in Physics, Maths and
Chemistry (andartf) and was set
to become an engineer, taking
up a place on an electronics deg-
ree course at Southampton
University.

After a year of electronics,
however, his artistic nature got
the better of his engineering
side and he resigned from the
course/ spent a year painting
and preparing a portfolio before
taking up a place at Bath
Academy of Art. While he was at
college, he began freelancing
for Quicksilva, in the days when
the company operated from a
terraced house which was burst-
ing at the seams with cassettes
and dismantled arcade mach-
ines — much to the dismay of a
certain landlord who arrived one
day to collect the rent to find
most of the furniture had been
moved into the garden !

Since leaving college. Rich
has persued a freelance career,
continuing to provide illustra-
tions for Quicksilva and a
number of other commercial
clients. 'Commissions help to
pay the rent/ he explained, 'but!
am always painting for myself,
following my own interests. If
I'm not working on a commis-
sion lam almostalways working
on a painting for a friend, or for
myself.

And his technological back-
ground enters his art — one
painting, which formed part of a
travelling exhibition, involved a
fair bit of electronic wizardry
which triggered off light emit-
ting diodes and played an audio
tape if sensors picked up move-
ment. The gizmo even had a
back-up battery, which cut in rf
the gallery owner unplugged the
painting in an attempt to silence
it!

'I'm keen to bridge the gap
between engineering and art —
people say you can 't move from
one to the other. On the one
hand, artists can be luddites,
claiming that engineering has
little to offer, while engineers
can consider art to be a waste of
time as ft does not deaf with the
mathematical values which
form the basis of engineering
thought. '
Rich Shenfield is fascinated by

older civilisations and the con-
trasts between their level of
technology and that of the mod-
ern world. He has recently
returned from a nine month
spell in India, where he spent
many months living and work-
ing with ancient communities
whose engineering skills are
comparable to those that could
be found in Europe five hundred
years ago. The experience of
visiting the Indian continent has
recharged his artistic batteries,
providing the artist in him with a
variety of new experiences and
images.

'For instance I came upon a
ruined city containing a temple
which was built two thousand
years ago. Everything bar the
major buildings had been
etched away o ver the years lea v-
ing a network of towers linked
by roads — and the area had a
striking resemblance to the
architecture of Large Scale
Integration microchips.

'And it was intrurging to dis-
appear into the desert for a
couple of days — the 'moon-
land' in Kashmir is just a vast
tract of dust and rock, where the
geology is naked. Returning
from the desert, having cut your-
self off r you see things in a new
detail, which is very useful for
drawing!

'Haytng spent three years
painting alien landscapes, to
spend nine months in an area of
this world which it totally alien
was like spending nine months
on another planet — it was like
being in a huge adventure
game, '

Richard's airbrush paintings
are only a part of his output —
his thesis at college was on 3D
television, and he has been
working with holographs for a
couple of years with a firm called
Holographix, producing 3D
logos for computer companies
and developing the techniques
involved in creating images
using laser light. He also has an
animated film under his belt,
produced with a Spectrum —
mind you, he did use a 16mm
camera to boost the computer's
memory!

And he uses computers in
creating pictures. The cover for
Mined Out for instance, was
partly created on a mainframe

Rich Sh&nfiefd and a very
mobile example of his art,
snapped in sunny Ludlow
just before the focal
traffic warden caught up
with him. .

using vector graphics to pro-
duce a line output which he then
airbrushed over. This is an area
of work he would like to get inv-
olved in further; 'If anyone out
there has a mainframe with a
wonderful mufti-colour, high
resolution monitor I can use, I'd
love to meet them, /simply can t
afford fifteen or twenty thous-
and pounds worth of equipment
for my back room! Unfortunate-
iy the resolution from all but the
most expensive systems is sim-
ply not coherent enough to be of
much use to me, '
During the summer months.
Rich has got into the habit of
travelling the country in a cara-
vanette, with his 12 volt air-
brush, painting whenever and
wherever the Fancy (or 3 com-
mission!) takes him. When he
visited us in Ludlow, he had just
finished designing the circuitry
for a top-oT-the-range stereo
amplifier, which will deliver a
massive 500 Watts per channel
of almost distortion free sound.
A multimedia man. Mr Shef-
field bade us goodbye, on his
way to purchase some cellulose
paint with which to decorate his
van. . . .

130 CRASH August 1985

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